Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("say")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, ōse-rare-ru (仰せられる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Genesis 1:29

In this verse God gives to human beings the gift of things created that will sustain them physically.

And God said: see Gen 1.3 and Gen 1.6.

Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed: Behold translates a word that in the context of a story marks the following statement as being of considerable significance; it is therefore an attention-getter sometimes translated in English as “Look,” or “Listen.” In many cases it is not translated. In some languages such attention-getters are placed after the statement. For the wording of the every plant yielding seed … and every tree with seed in its fruit, see verses 11 and 12. Since in this context the focus is on plants that provide food, some translations use their own categories of food plants here; for example, “all the plants that produce food in the ground, and all those that produce food above [the ground].”

Which is upon the face of all the earth is assumed by Good News Translation to be adequately expressed in verses 11 and 12 and so is not repeated in verse 29. However, many translations retain the expression; for example, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “I give you all the plants of the earth that produce seeds,” Bible en français courant “Over the entire surface of the earth I give you…,” and New Jerusalem Bible “I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon the earth.”

You shall have them for food: them refers to the grains and the fruits, and Bible en français courant makes this clear with “Their grains and their fruits will serve as your food.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .