complete verse (Exodus 20:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 20:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, don’t make/create anything to kneel to/worship. Don’t make anything out of gold or silver and for you to worship (them).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You must not make other gods besides me, do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So [you (plur.)] do- not -make little-gods/false-gods which (are) silver or gold in-order-to worship along-with me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Therefore you (pl.) can’t/mustn’t make any other god to accompany me. And don’t make the carving of any god with gol and silva.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “you not gods other equate with me. you not gods of earth make with gold white or gold red.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Yahweh said to Moses/me, ‘Say this to the Israeli people: ‘You have heard how I, Yahweh, have spoken to you from heaven. I told you that you must not make any idols of silver or gold that you will worship instead of me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Exod 20:23

You shall not make uses the same form as the Ten Commandments, but here the you is plural and more emphatic. Durham has “You must not make.” Gods of silver to be with me is literally “with me; gods [ʾelohim] of silver.” This reveals a problem in the text, in that the Hebrew actually places to be with me after the verb and then marks it as a complete clause, literally “You [plural] shall not make with me.” This is difficult to understand, for it does not indicate what should not be made. The probable meaning is “You shall not make anything to rank with me” (so New American Bible) or “to be alongside me” (New International Version). American Standard Version and New American Standard Bible add the words “other gods,” using italics to show they are added. Durham has “You must not make rivals with me.”

This means that gods of silver really goes with gods of gold in the second clause, which has its own verb. New Revised Standard Version follows Revised Standard Version in advancing gods of silver to the first clause: “You shall not make gods of silver alongside me.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and New Jerusalem Bible also retain two clauses and advance gods of silver to the first clause. But Good News Translation combines the two clauses by considering gods of silver and gods of gold to be the intended objects of both verbs: “Do not make for yourselves gods of silver and gold in addition to me.” Contemporary English Version has “So you must never make idols of silver or gold to worship in place of me.” (See the comment on gods at 12.12.)

Nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold is literally “and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.” It should be noted, however, that silver and gold usually go together as an idiom, and the Hebrew punctuation keeps gods of silver … gods of gold as one clause. In some languages this verse will be rendered in a way similar to the following: “You must not make likenesses [or, images] of gods out of silver or gold to worship in place of me.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .