cattle, livestock

The Hebrew that is translated in English as “livestock” (or “cattle”) is translated in Newari as “living beings brought up in a house” or “living beings cared for in a house” (source: Newari Back Translation). Specifically “cattle” is “cows and oxen.”

In Kwere it is “animals that are being kept.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Genesis 9:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 9:10:

  • Kankanaey: “All the creatures that went-out-with you from the ark will also be included.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “and with all the living beings on the earth, wild and domesticated who came our of the ship with you, I have made a covenant” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘This is my covenant to you (pl.) and to your (pl.) descendants, and to all-that live on earth including all the animals who were with you in the ark: I surely will- not -destroy again all that live by-means-of a very severe flood. And never again will- a flood like this -happen to destroy the earth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “and with all the living creatures that are with you—including the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals—every living creature on the earth that came out of the boat with you.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Genesis 9:10

And with every living creature that is with you: living creature is as in 1.20, 24 and is furthermore divided here into three categories: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth. Cattle refers to domestic animals, and beast to wild animals. Nothing is said about the creeping animals. Good News Translation uses dashes to show that “all living beings” is to be understood as “all birds, and all animals.” Good News Translation has put domestic and wild animals together as “all animals.”

As many as came out of the ark, as the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, follows the Septuagint. The Hebrew text repeats “every beast of the earth,” adding this phrase at the end. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, which gives the Hebrew text an {A} rating, explains that the Hebrew prepositions “from” (all that go out of the ark) and “to” (every beast of the earth) means there are two categories: “first those which came out of the ark, and then those which live thereafter on the earth.” Accordingly Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends “all those coming out of the ark as well as all beasts of the earth.” Neither Revised Standard Version nor Good News Translation follows the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommendation, but many other modern translations do, and translators are encouraged to do likewise. Some models to follow are Bible en français courant, “and everything that lives around you: birds, domestic and wild animals, those that came out of the boat, and all that will in the future live on the earth,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “and with all the animals that were with you in the boat and that will live on the earth in the future.” In some languages the action of coming out of the boat is not stated directly but is understood from the fact of the animals and birds having been on the boat with Noah; for example, “… animals and birds … everything that was with you on the boat…” and “… the animals and birds that you took with you in the boat.”

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 .