second person pronoun with low register

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 show 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 Ezekiel 27:13

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you: Javan is the Hebrew term for the Greeks. Normally it refers only to the Greeks who lived on the Ionian coast (that is, present-day Turkey) and the Aegean islands, so it is a little misleading to say “Greece” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version). A better rendering is “The Greeks” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Tubal and Meshech, which are often connected with Javan in the Bible, were nations in the center of Asia Minor. Together these three nations probably refer to the whole of Asia Minor, that is, most of modern Turkey. For the Hebrew verb rendered traded, see the introductory comments on this subunit.

They exchanged the persons of men and vessels of bronze for your merchandise: The goods they traded for Tyre’s products were persons of men, that is, “slaves” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) and vessels of bronze, which may be rendered “articles of bronze” (Good News Translation, New International Version, New American Bible), “items of bronze” (New Century Version), “bronze utensils” (Revised English Bible), “things made of bronze” (Contemporary English Version), or “bronze dishes” (New Living Translation [1996]). If bronze (which is a mixture of copper and tin) is unknown, a general term for “metal” is acceptable (see 9.2). For the Hebrew word rendered merchandise, see the introductory comments on this subunit.

A model for this verse is:

• The Greeks [or, Greek people] and the nations of Tubal and Meshech did business with you by selling you slaves and metal utensils in exchange for the things you had to sell.

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 .