Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 4:5:
Uma: “And the Word of God that we heard earlier said: ‘They will really not be allowed to get the rest/stopping with me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “We (dual) have read this, God says, ‘They really will not enter the land were I would have given them rest.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And God said again about this rest, He said, ‘They cannot enter in in order to rest with Me.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Consider again what God caused-to-be-written that I told a-little-earlier that he would never have-them -enter the resting-place he had prepared.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “This rest, it was also referred to in that which he caused-to-be-written which says, ‘they will not be able to rest under my care/jurisdiction in that place that I promised them.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Again, this is the rest God spoke of in the days he told the people: ‘You cannot go into where you should have gone for a resting place.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
This same matter is literally “in this.” It may also mean “in the text we are considering” (so Jerusalem Bible; compare Phillips, New American Bible, New English Bible). If this translation is chosen, it will be necessary to find in verse 7 a different expression which means the same thing. New English Bible, for example, has “the passage above” in verse 5 and “the words already quoted” in verse 7. Revised Standard Version‘s “again” is a common way of introducing a second or later quotation, as Revised Standard Version does in 1.5; 2.13.
Alternatively, This same matter may refer to something which the two Old Testament quotations in verses 4 and 5 have in common. This can only be God’s “rest” or “resting place,” by which the author means the state into which God entered on the seventh day of creation, which he says is the same state or “place” which God intends his people to occupy. It may be possible, therefore, to translate This same matter is spoken of again as “This matter about rest is spoken of in another place in the holy writings” or “God speaks in another place in the holy writings about experiencing rest.”
They will never enter that land where I would have given them rest must be translated as in 3.11.
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 .
And again, as He says in the passage above: The phrase And again introduces another quotation from the Scriptures. The author already quoted this Scripture in 3:11 and in 4:3. The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in the passage above is literally “that place.” The author was referring to the same quotation that he used in 4:3.
Some other ways to translate this phrase are:
but to repeat the verse that was quoted earlier: -or-
This same matter is spoken of again: (Good News Translation)
4:5b
They shall never enter My rest: Here the author repeats the same verse that he just quoted in 4:3c–d. Because it is an exact repetition, you should translate it here in the same way as you did there.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.