complete verse (Exodus 5:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 5:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “That is how when those Israelites who were in charge of the other slaves knew that they are in where a person is/in big trouble/danger concerning what the leader had said because they were supposed to make the bricks as many as those they had been making.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When the Israelites foremen heard that, ’whatever the daily number of bricks you must give that many brick, you must make them realized they were in trouble.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Because the king insisted that they surely must-make the number of bricks that had-been-assigned- for them -to-do each day, the Israelinhon foremen realized that (it) (would be) very hard/difficult for them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Okay, the Israel people’s spokespersons of the laborers heard the great chief say that they weren’t able to move the number of hard stones down each and every day, and so they knew, a very difficult event had just happened to them.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And foremen of work of people of Israel saw it be bad for them very, because king said to them «Bricks which you make by day, it not is necessary that it might be few from that of beginning.»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “The Israeli supervisors realized that they were in a difficult situation, because they had been told, ‘We are not going to decrease the number of bricks you must make each day.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Exod 5:19

The foremen of the people of Israel were the Israelite foremen, as in verse 15. Saw may be rendered as “realized” (Good News Translation), “found” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “knew” (New American Bible). That they were in evil plight is literally “[saw] them in evil.” The “them” (they) should probably be understood as the foremen plus all the laborers under them. (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “the Israelites.”) In evil plight, literally “in evil,” means “in trouble” (Good News Translation). Other ways to express evil plight are “were in a dilemma” or “were caught in a situation with no way out.”

When they said is literally “saying,” without identifying the speaker or speakers. The they may therefore refer to either the Pharaoh or the taskmasters in verse 11. Or the passive form may be used, “when they were told” (Good News Translation). But what is said is presented as a direct quote and is similar but not identical to that in verse 13. You shall by no means lessen your daily number of bricks is literally “you shall not reduce from your bricks the matter of a day in its day.” Another way of saying this is “You must still make the same number of bricks each day as you did before.” It will be easier in many languages to use indirect speech as in Good News Translation and others.

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 .