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 38:7

Be ready and keep ready, you and all the hosts that are assembled about you is literally “Be ready and make yourself ready….” Two different forms of the same Hebrew verb are used here to stress the need for Gog to be alert and get himself and his army ready for the task. Some translations use a more logical order here; for example, New Living Translation says “Get ready; be prepared!” (similarly New International Version, New International Reader’s Version), which implies that Gog should get ready and then stay ready. But in Hebrew the need to be ready or alert comes first, and after that Gog must make himself and his army ready. Translators will do well to retain this order. A model that does this is “Be prepared. You and all the armies around you must get ready.” The Hebrew pronoun for you is emphatic, stressing the importance of this command to Gog. All the hosts that are assembled about you means all the soldiers have come together and are ready to fight under Gog. Hosts renders the same Hebrew word translated “company” in verse 4 (see the comments there). All the hosts may be rendered “all the armies” (New Living Translation, New Century Version) or “all the troops” (similarly Good News Translation).

And be a guard for them: The meaning of this clause in Hebrew unclear. For some scholars it means Gog must take control of the soldiers that have gathered so that they will not be able to avoid the upcoming battle (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Others have suggested that its meaning is more general, namely, that Gog is to “take command” (New International Version, New Living Translation, Christian Community Bible) of the huge army. A third alternative is to follow the Septuagint, which has changed the pronoun from them to “me.” New American Bible follows this reading by rendering this clause as “and be at my disposal” (similarly Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt), which means Gog must be ready to do whatever God tells him. This reading involves changing the Hebrew text, so we recommend the second alternative above.

A model for this verse is:

• Be alert, Gog! Get yourself ready! And that huge army that has gathered together for you, get them ready too! You will be their commander/overseer/chief!

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 .