complete verse (Exodus 34:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 34:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “You should focus on what I am going to tell you today. I will chase away for you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Obey the command that I am giving you today. Behold, I will drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites before you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Obey what I had-commanded- you -to-do today. I will-drive-out the Amornon, Canaanhon, Hithanon, Periznon, Hivhanon, and Jebusnon on the land which I promised to you (plur.)” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “But you (pl.) must be following my laws which I give to you (sing.) today. And yo, I will go ahead of you (pl.) and then drive away the Amor and Kenan and It and Peres and Ivi and Iebus peoples.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “Therefore, you all, you listen [to] that which I will say. Amorites, and people of Canaan, and Hittites, and Perezzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, when I will chase them out from before you,” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Each Israeli person must obey what I am commanding you this day. Do not forget that if you obey me, I will expel the Amor, Canaan, Heth, Periz, Hiv, and Jebus people-groups from the land. But be careful that you do not make any peace agreements with any of the people who live in the land into which you are going, because if you do that, you will begin to do the evil things that they do. It will be like falling into a trap.” (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 34:11

Observe what I command you this day is literally “guard to you [singular] what I am commanding you today.” The participle suggests the meaning “which I am about to command you,” so the reference is evidently to “the laws” (Good News Translation) that are given in the following verses. (The Hebrew word is related to mitswah, discussed in the introductory comments to 20.22-26.) The use of the singular you, both here and throughout the section, refers to each Israelite, both singularly and collectively. (See the introduction to chapter 20.) Contemporary English Version reorders the clauses of the verse as follows: “I will force out the Amorites…, but you must do what I command you this day.” Another way to express this is “… but you must obey all the laws that I am giving you today.”

Behold calls attention to who is speaking as well as to what is being said. Literally it is “behold me [the] driver out from before your faces.” Again the participle may be understood as “I am going to drive out” (Translator’s Old Testament). The Amorites begins another listing of the six different nations or ethnic groups that were living in the land where the Israelites were to go. (See the comment at 3.8 and at 13.5.)

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 .