The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 23:22:
Kupsabiny: “And/But if you (plur.) respect him and do according to what he says, I will eat for you war/defend/fight for you when the enemies come to attack you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “If you listen to him and do all that I say. I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “If you (plur.) just listen to him carefully/[lit. well] in what he says and do all that I say, I will-go-against your (plur.) enemies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “If you (pl.) listen well to his talk and do everything as he speaks of, then I will be the enemy of your enemies. And if anyone fights against you, then I will fight against them.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “If you will hear its word, if you will do that which I will say to you all, enemies your, I will be enemy their, and rivals your, I will be rival their.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “But if you pay attention to what he says and if you do all that I tell you to do, I will fight strongly against all of your enemies.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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.
But if you hearken attentively to his voice is literally “But if hearing you [singular] hear to his voice.” This repetition of the verb is the emphatic form, so attentively or something similar must be added. New International Version has “If you listen carefully to what he says,” but the stronger meaning of “obey” (Good News Translation) is also suggested, as in verse 21. Childs has “But if you will really obey him,” and Contemporary English Version has “If you faithfully obey him.”
And do all that I say suddenly shifts from third person (his voice) to first person (I say). This should not be a problem in translation, if it is clear that the angel represents Yahweh himself and speaks for him. Otherwise it will be better to say “do all that he says.”
Then I will be an enemy to your enemies basically means “I will be hostile to those who are hostile to you [singular],” or “I will hate those who hate you.” (The same word for enemy is used in verse 4.) And an adversary to your adversaries says the same thing, using a different word that also means “to be hostile to” or “to be in conflict with.” Good News Translation combines the two into one: “I will fight against all your enemies.” Contemporary English Version has “I will be a fierce enemy of your enemies.” In certain languages where “enemies” will be rendered as “those who hate you,” one may say “I will fight fiercely against all those people who hate you.”
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 .
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