complete verse (Exodus 8:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 8:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “But if you refuse, I will send a swarm of flies on you, your leaders, your people and even to the houses. The flies will fill up the houses of the people of Egypt and will go all over the whole land.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If you do not let my people go, I’ll send swarms of flies on you, your officials, your people and into your palace. All the houses of Egyptians and even the ground where they sit, will be full of flies.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “If you (sing.) indeed do- not -let- them -go, I will-send-(upon) you (sing.) very many insects to harm you and your (sing.) officials and people. Your (plur.) houses will-be-filled with insects, and the ground will-be-covered with them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “But yo, if you don’t allow my people to go, I will make so that very many flies go up onto you (sing.) and your [subordinate] leaders and all your people, and they [will] enter into your houses also. Flies will be full in the houses of you Isip people and in whichever area you are living in.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “If you will reject leaving their, you and servants your, and people your, I will send [your direction] for you fly [in/on/to] house. And house of Egyptians all, it will be crowded with fly, and fly will fill ground which they live there.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “I warn you that if you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies to you. They will come down on you and on your officials and on the rest of your people. The houses of all you Egyptians will be full of flies. They will even cover the ground.” (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 8:21

Else introduces a conditional clause that here serves as a warning. This is further emphasized by the word behold at the end of the clause. Good News Translation combines behold with else and begins “I warn you that if….” If you will not let my people go repeats the same words as in verse 20 with the negative. The context is clear enough that this may seem unnecessary or unnatural in translation in many languages. However, if it is natural style in a receptor language, translators should keep it. Good News Translation condenses to “if you refuse,” and Contemporary English Version has “If you don’t.”

I will send swarms of flies on you is the official announcement of the fourth plague, but this is still a part of Yahweh’s words to Moses. The I, of course, is Yahweh, the LORD, and the you is singular, referring to the Pharaoh. Again there may be an intentional play on the word send, which is the same word used in let my people go. (See verse 20 and the discussion at 7.16.)

Swarms of flies translates just one word in the Hebrew, which seems to be a generic term for “insects.” The word is a collective noun that comes from the verb “to mix,” so the idea of swarms is suggested. Most translations identify the insects as flies because of the early interpretation of “dog-flies” in the ancient Greek translation, the Septuagint. So Jerusalem Bible has “gadflies” and New Jerusalem Bible has “horseflies.” (Durham translates this term as “a mixed swarm of flying insects.”) They were probably large flies that could leave a painful bite on animals as well as on humans. Flies should present no problem for translators, as such large biting insects are common almost everywhere in the world. However, in cases where biting flies are unknown, one may translate, for example, “a swarm of flying insects that bite.”

On you is singular, meaning on the king himself. And your servants means “your officials” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), or “your courtiers” (New English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “the members of your court” (Durham). Your people means the king’s subjects, the Egyptians themselves. And into your houses would refer to all the buildings in the palace complex, for the your is still singular.

And the houses of the Egyptians begins a new clause, this time including all the Egyptian houses throughout the country. Shall be filled with swarms of flies is certainly a slight exaggeration, but the idea is clear; there would be no place where the Egyptians could escape from these terrible insects. An alternative translation model is to combine the phrase and into your houses and the clause and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled, and translate “Houses all over Egypt will be full….”

And also the ground probably includes all of the out-of-doors, although the following phrase is ambiguous. On which they stand is literally “where they [are] upon it.” The word they may refer either to where their houses are built or to wherever the people may go. The ambiguity is certainly not intentional, so we should follow either Good News Translation, “and the ground will be covered with them,” or New Revised Standard Version, “so also the land where they live,” or one may say “they will cover the ground everywhere.”

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 .