4For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 7:4:
Kankanaey: “Because when seven days go (by), I will send rain, and it will continue-without-letup to rain-hard for forty days and nights until all that I created on this surface of the earth will drown.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Seven days from now I will cause rain to come on the earth. This rain will come for 40 days and 40 nights. I will annihilate everything that lives on the earth that I made.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “For after seven days from now, I will-cause- (it) -to-rain the whole earth for [lit. inside of] 40 days and 40 nights, so-that all that I made will-die.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Do this because seven days from now I will cause rain to fall on the earth. It will rain constantly for 40 days and nights. By doing that, I will destroy everything that I have made that is on the earth.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
This verse is parallel to the announcement of the flood in 6.17. Here the announcement has three parts: the rain will begin after seven days, the rain will last for forty days, and every living thing will be destroyed.
For in seven days: the seven days in this verse is the same week referred to in verse 10. For translates a Hebrew particle that may be understood here as introducing the reason for the commands given in verses 2-3, although many translations do not make this kind of connection. In seven days means “after seven days have passed,” “after seven days,” or “at the end of seven days.” Some languages have idiomatic expressions for time intervals like this; for example, “Seven days finished, I will…” and “One week remains, then I will….”
I will send rain upon the earth: send rain translates the causative form of the verb meaning to rain: “I will cause it to rain,” “I will make it rain.” Upon the earth is commonly added in such expressions; see, for example, 1 Kgs 8.36 “upon the land” and 17.14 “upon the earth.” This expression is often not translated in English and other languages in order to give a more natural style.
Forty days and forty nights: the forty days and forty nights used in this verse are the same as the ones referred to in verses 12 and 17. The sense is that the rain, which will begin after seven days, will fall continuously for forty days. The expression emphasizes the continuity of the rain, which may be expressed as “day and night for forty days” or “I will make it rain without stopping for forty days and nights.”
And every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground: the relationship of this to the first part of the verse is that of result to cause. Accordingly it may be better with Good News Translation to show this relationship by “in order to” or “so that.” However, in some languages the order of the clauses naturally suggests a cause-and-effect connection without the need for such connecting expressions. A different way of expressing the relationship is used in one recent translation: “By means of this rain I will completely finish everything that lives….”
Every living thing is a rare word that occurs only here, in verse 23, and in Deut 11.6. Its meaning is parallel to “living beings” as used in 1.20. Blot out, meaning to “erase,” “destroy,” “wipe out,” is the same verb used in 6.7. From the face of the ground is the same as used in 2.6 and 6.7. See there for comments.
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 .
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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.