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

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 1:9

Verses 9-13 describe the events in the creation of seas, dry land, and vegetation.

And God said: see Gen 1.3 and Gen 1.6.

Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place: waters refers to all the water under the sky that resulted from the separation of the waters in verse 7, and that still cover the entire earth. These lower waters are now commanded to be gathered into one place. Be gathered translates the passive form of the verb “to gather” and is the third act of separation. In verse 4 light is separated from darkness, and in verse 7 the upper waters are separated from the lower waters (ocean); now the water covering the surface of the land is separated from the land.

Here again the translator is faced with the problem of a command that is addressed only to an inanimate object, water. In some languages this may be said, for example, as “Water, come together into one place,” “Water, pour yourself all into one place,” or “All water must now flow into one place.”

And let the dry land appear may be expressed as a clause of purpose, as in Good News Translation, “so that the land will appear.” As a command it may be possible to say, for example, “Land must now appear,” “Land, you must now be seen,” or “Land, appear.” Dry land is not the usual Hebrew word for “land” or “earth.” It translates a noun that is derived from the verb “to be dry” and which normally contrasts with the sea or river. It is used of the dry ground on which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea (Exo 14.16, 29), and of the dry ground on which Joshua and the Israelites crossed the dammed-up Jordan river (Josh 4.22). In some languages the translation “dry place” is used here, so that the regular name for the land can come naturally as the name in the next verse.

And it was so: see verse 7.

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 .