Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 44:29:
Newari: “Now, you are taking this one away as well. If anything happens I will die in pain.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “If you (pl.) will- still -take this one who remains with me, and if there-is-something (that) will-happen to him, I who (am) now old will- just -die in distress.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I am an old gray-haired man. If you take this other one from me, too, and something harms him, you would cause me to die because of my sorrow.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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. )
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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