empty-handed

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “empty-handed” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe idiomatically with “with hands only.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also send away empty-handed.

unleavened bread

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “unleavened bread” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “bread that doesn’t have its medicine that makes it puff up”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “bread without its sour”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “bread that has no mother” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bread without other ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “non-puffed-up bread”
  • Chitonga: “bread without fermented grain” (source for this and above: de Regt / Wendland 2016)
  • Hiligaynon: “bread that has-none of that-which-causes-to-expand” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

complete verse (Exodus 23:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 23:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “Celebrate the festival of bread which has not risen in the month of Abib as I told you, because those are the days you left Egypt. For seven days while celebrating this festival, eat bread which has not risen, and no one should come to this function with empty hands.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Celebrate the feast of unleavened bread. You are to eat bread made without yeast as you have been commanded. Do this as the appointed time in the month of Abib because in that month you came out of Egypt. ‘No one is to appear before me empty-handed.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] celebrate the Feast of Bread which Has-None of That-Which-Causes-to-Expand. According to-what I have-commanded you (plur.), [you (plur.)] eat bread that has-none of that-which-causes-to-expand for seven days. You (plur.) do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for that is the month that you (plur.) came-out of Egipto. Everyone should bring me a sacrifice at that time.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “‘Do the big feast of Bret Not Having Yis Existing in it as I told you (pl.) about. For these seven days, you must eat bret not having yis existing in it. Do this feast rightly on its day in the month of Abip. For in this month, you left Isip and came.
    ‘You (pl.) can’t be empty-handed and come to me at these three feasts. You must come with your offering.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “Holiday first, be Day of Joy of Bread which Lacks Yeast. you (sing., imp.) eat bread which lacks yeast with day seven, as I have said to you in Egypt. you (sing., imp.) remember it on day which I first put down, on month one, because that is what be month which you had left [body] from Egypt.
    On that day [which] you will remember me by it , people [do] not (imp.) [let] to my altar come hand empty.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “The first one is the Festival of Bread That Has No Yeast. Celebrate it in the month that is named Abib. That is the month in which you left Egypt. Celebrate it in the way that I commanded you. And always bring an offering when you come to worship me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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”.

Translation commentary on Exod 23:15

You shall keep is literally “You [singular] shall guard [or observe].” This verb also functions for the two clauses in verse 16 without being repeated. The feast of unleavened bread uses the same word as verse 14, so Revised English Bible has “You are to celebrate the pilgrim-feast of Unleavened Bread.” It is not necessary to repeat the idea of a pilgrimage every time, if this is made clear in verse 14. Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and New Revised Standard Version prefer “festival.” Unleavened bread is discussed at 12.15. (See the comment there.)

As I commanded you refers to the instructions given by Yahweh in 12.15-20. The you is singular, but it refers to the individual Israelite, not just to Moses. It may be made plural if this is more natural. You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days is almost identical with 12.15, but there the plural you is used. Again Good News Translation changes the positive command to a negative one, but this also changes the meaning slightly. Contemporary English Version already has the command to eat unleavened bread in the first sentence. So here it translates “Do this [meaning ‘eat unleavened bread’] at the proper time….”

At the appointed time refers to what is mentioned in 12.18, which was from the fourteenth to the twenty-first day of the month. These details, of course, should not be repeated here. Contemporary English Version has “at the proper time.” (Good News Translation seems to have missed this idea.) If translators follow Good News Translation‘s restructuring, where this phrase stands at the beginning of the verse, one should say “At the proper time in the month of Abib.” In the month of Abib, literally “the New-Moon of Ripe-Grain” (Fox), is mentioned in 13.4. (See the comment there.) It is the same month referred to in 12.2 and 12.18. This was the time (March-April) for harvesting the barley that had been planted in the winter. For in it means “in that month” (New International Version). You came out of Egypt still uses the singular you, which should be changed to plural if it seems more natural. Contemporary English Version has “because it is the month when you left Egypt.”

None shall appear before me empty-handed is literally “and they shall not be seen [before] my face empty.” The “they” is indefinite, allowing for the context to make the meaning clear. So “they shall not” means None shall, or “no one shall” (New Revised Standard Version). Translator’s Old Testament has “You shall not come into my presence empty-handed,” and Good News Translation interprets this as “Never come to worship me without bringing an offering.” Contemporary English Version has “And make certain that everyone brings the proper offerings.” New Revised Standard Version and New International Version consider this sentence to be a new paragraph, but it probably refers to the pilgrimage to worship Yahweh on the seventh day of unleavened bread. (See 13.6; Deut 16.16.)

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• You must come to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, just as I have commanded you. Eat bread without yeast for seven days at the proper time during the month of Abib, because it is the month when you left Egypt. And make certain that everyone brings the proper offerings to present to 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 .