9But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot and came near the door to break it down.
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Lot” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “cousin,” referring to the fact that Lot is Abraham’s cousin (see Genesis 11:27). (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Lot.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 19:9:
Kankanaey: “Meanwhile they were saying, ‘Get-away-from there! Is it the case that you (sing.) have any right to order us (excl.)? You (sing.) are also just (deprecatory particle) a visitor/stranger. You (sing.) move-aside now lest worse is what we (excl.) do to you (sing.) than to those visitors of yours (sing.).’ That being-so they abruptly-pushed at Lot in order to go force (unfulfilled expectation) the door.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “They said — ‘Get out of our way! Even though he is a man who comes from outside, this is one who orders us around, indeed! Now we will treat you worse than [we treat] them.’ Talking like this, the crown pushed Lot [aside] and went to break down the door.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But the people said, ‘You (sing.) are only a stranger here but you think you are really somebody to interfere with us (excl.)/[lit. but seems-like who you are [intensifier]]. Get-away-from here! Might-be worse what we do to you (sing.) than to them.’ Then they pushed Lot. They had-hoped to come-near to the door to destroy it,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But they replied, ‘Get out of our way! You are a foreigner; so you have no right to tell us what is right! If you don’t get out of our way, we will do worse things to you than we will do to them!’ Then they lunged towards Lot, and tried forcefully to break down the door.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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. )
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 choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (e.g. he and they and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used.
In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including koitsu (こいつ), soitsu (そいつ), and aitsu (あいつ), meaning “this person/one,” “that person/one,” and “that person/one over there.” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Stand back! or “Get out of our way” (Good News Translation). The crowd orders Lot to get away from the door so that they can go in and grab the two men. Some translations say “Don’t stop us!”
This fellow is literally “This one.” The mob now speaks not to Lot but about him. In some languages this kind of shift from second to third person may require some adjusting. For example, it may be necessary to introduce the shift with “Then they said to each other….” Perhaps a better way is to retain the second person as Good News Translation does, since the final sentence in this verse returns to you (singular). Some translations handle the shift by changing the order of the clauses in the first part of the verse: “This fellow… Stand back, Lot, or we will….”
Came to sojourn means “came to Sodom as a foreigner,” or “came here as an alien,” or “came to live here as an outsider.” The point of this comment is that Lot has no rights as a citizen in Sodom; so some translations have “You are only a foreigner” or “You don’t belong here!”
And he would play the judge!: Revised Standard Version translates this as an exclamation. Others prefer it as a rhetorical question: “and does he now take it upon himself to judge us?” (New English Bible, Revised English Bible). This may also be rendered, for example, “Certainly you are not our judge,” or “you should not think you have become our boss,” “you have no right to tell us what to do,” or “Why [angry form] are you talking like that to us?”
Now we will deal worse with you than with them: Now does not refer to time but to consequence. Because Lot the alien resident has interfered with the local men, they are angry and threaten him. Deal worse with translates the same verb used in verse 7, “act wickedly” (Revised Standard Version). The mob threatens to treat Lot worse than they plan to treat the two men—in other words, to use him for their sexual object in a still more wicked manner. In most cases, however, this may safely be left to the imagination of the readers.
Pressed hard against the man Lot: this is well expressed by Good News Translation “They pushed Lot back.” We may also say “Then the crowd pushed Lot aside.”
Drew near to break the door: the crowd moved forward to break down the door or, as New English Bible says, “pressed close to smash in the door.”
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 .
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