complete verse (Genesis 43:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 43:12:

  • Kankanaey: “Double also the money that you take-along, because you must return what was put in your sacks. Maybe, that was only a mistake.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then take along double the silver, for you still have to repay your returned money. It might have been a miscalculation.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (pl.)] double the money that you bring for you (pl.) must return the money that was-returned to your (pl.) sacks. Maybe at-that-time they just made-a-mistake.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Take twice as much money as you took the previous time, because you must return the silver that someone put in the tops of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake that it was put in your sacks.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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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 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 Genesis 43:12

Take double the money with you: Jacob’s instructions are that they should take twice as much money as they did on the first trip. With you is literally “in your hand.” They are to return the money they found in the top of their grain sacks, and take additional money to buy more grain.

Perhaps it was an oversight: this refers to the placing of the money in the grain sacks. Oversight means an unintentional error or mistake.

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 .