65and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.
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 inclusive pronoun, including everyone.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 24:65:
Kankanaey: “and she asked-for-information from the slave, ‘Who is that man who is approaching to meet-us (verb prefix indicates 1st pers. sg or pl object)?’ ‘The child of my master,’ he said answering. Therefore Rebeka covered her face with a head-cloth, because that was the custom of young-ladies there.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Then she asked Abraham’s servant — ‘Who is [that] man coming from over there?'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “and asked the servant of Abraham, ‘Who is that man in the field who is-approaching us (excl.)?’ The servant answered, ‘He is my master Isaac.’ Therefore Rebeka covered her face with a veil.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “and asked the servant, ‘Who is that man who is approaching?’ The servant replied, ‘That is Isaac, my master, the man you will be marrying.’ So she took her veil and covered her face, which was the custom for a woman who was about to be married.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Said to the servant must often be rendered “asked the servant” or “inquired of Abraham’s servant.”
Who is the man yonder…?: Revised Standard Versionyonder has been changed to “over there” in New Revised Standard Version, and so Rebekah asks “Who is the man over there walking in the field to meet us?” or “… coming across the field to meet us?”
It is my master is the servant’s reply. Until now only Abraham has been referred to as my master, so the reader is likely to be confused by this change. To keep the reference the same, some translators want to say “the son of my master”; but this is not what the narrative actually says. A better approach that is followed by some translations is to say “my master Isaac.”
When Rebekah learned that it was Isaac, she took her veil and covered herself. She covered her face to show respect and modesty in the presence of her future husband. A veil is a cloth that can be placed over a woman’s head and face to conceal her face from view. That Jacob did not realize that Leah had been substituted for Rachel was probably due to the veil she wore (Gen 29.21-26). Tamar wore a veil to deceive Judah so he would have intercourse with her (Gen 38.14).
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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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 (“he,” “she,” “it” 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 kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
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