Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the readers of this letter).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
“to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
“to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):
What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?
“The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.
When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’
“A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.
“The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?
“I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”
In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):
For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 13:18:
Uma: “We(excl.) request that you keep praying for us (excl.). We(excl.) know that our (excl.) hearts are as holy/clean as an egg [i.e., we are innocent, not hiding anything], for in everything we (excl.) always want to do what is straight.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Do not rest from praying for us (excl.) to God. We (excl.) know that there is nothing causing uncertainty/fear in our (excl.) mind for that is only what we (excl.) always want to do the good and the straight/right.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Brethren, pray also always for us. We (excl.) know that there is nothing to be rebuked in our behavior, because we only want to always do good.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Continue to pray for us (excl.), because we (excl.) know that our (excl.) conscience is clean and we (excl.) want to continue doing what is right continually.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Don’t forget us (excl.) in your prayers. For we (excl.) are not aware of anything wrong that we are doing. And we (excl.) really want to always live with nothing criticizable in God’s sight.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Pray to God for me. Because I think that I have been walking good and I want that I continue to walk good.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
Here, inotte (祈って) or “pray” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
So little is known about the circumstances in which this letter was written that it is impossible to be sure whether we in this verse refers to the author alone, as Moffatt thinks, or to a number of people, as other translators believe. The fact that I is used in the next verse (for the first time, see verse 22) can be used as evidence on both sides. On the one hand, it can be argued that if the writer is talking of himself in verse 19, he is likely to be doing so in verse 18 too. On the other hand, if he is already talking about himself in verse 18, why should he change from we to I in verse 19? A stronger argument in favor of “I” in verse 18 is that the writer speaks of conscience, which almost by definition is something inward and therefore individual.
In some languages the positive statement Keep on praying for us may be more effectively stated in a negative form, “Do not cease to pray for us” or “Do not ever stop praying on our behalf” or “… speaking to God for our benefit.”
We are sure we have a clear conscience may be expressed as “We are certain that our heart has no guilt.”
Most modern translations omit Revised Standard Version‘s “for.” It seems here to act as a rather weak and general connecting link, rather than marking a logical relation between the two parts of the verse.
The right thing renders an adverb related to the word for good used in verse 9 (see the comment). There is, of course, no reference to any particular thing; Barclay “to live a good life”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “to do what is right.”
At all times is literally “in all (things)” or “in all (people)”; there is no explicit reference to time. “In all you do” would be a possible paraphrase; alternatively, but less probably, “in each of you.” It is also possible to translate at all times as “in all circumstances.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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