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 Ezekiel 22:12

In you men take bribes to shed blood probably means corrupt judges secretly accepted money or other gifts in exchange for condemning people to death in court. Alternatively, this clause could refer to people being paid to murder someone (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). Bribery is a custom that is all too well known in most parts of the world. If there is no word or idiom for it, however, translators can follow New Century Version for this clause, which says “The people in you take money to kill others.” Another possible model is “Some of your people take money to condemn people to death.”

You take interest and increase refers to charging interest on loans. See the comments on 18.8 for the difference between the Hebrew terms rendered interest and increase.

And make gain of your neighbors by extortion involves making illegal profits, usually with the threat of violence. For extortion see Ezek 22.7. La Bible Pléiade renders this clause as “and take advantage of your neighbor by violence,” which is a good model.

And you have forgotten me: The social, cultic and sexual sins listed in verses 6-12 are summarized here with the charge that the people of Jerusalem have forgotten God, which means they disregarded God and ignored his commands (compare New Living Translation, which says “They never even think of me and my commands”). They had broken the covenant and did not worship him correctly (compare Revised English Bible, which has “You have committed apostasy”).

The list of sins ends with the solemn declaration says the Lord GOD, which emphasizes God’s words here.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .