Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("[someone/who] is")

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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 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, a-rare-ru (あられる) or “(someone/who) is” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Genesis 48:15

And he blessed Joseph: some understand that Joseph is the one who receives the blessing. The Good News Translation footnote says “In blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob was in fact blessing Joseph.” However, the Septuagint has “them,” which may refer to the two boys, or to Joseph and his sons.

In the following lines of the spoken blessing, God is given three titles which taken together form the subject of the verb bless in the expression bless the lads in the next verse.

God before whom … walked: in 17.1 Abraham was instructed by God to “walk before me and be blameless.” See also 24.40. Walk means to live as God requires, to conform Abraham’s life to God’s will or to serve him.

The God who has led me … day: led translates a verb that means to tend as a shepherd tends his sheep. The general sense is to “care for,” “look after.” In pastoral terms it says “The God who has shepherded me to this very day.”

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 .