Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Hosea 1:9:
Kupsabiny: “God said to Hosea, ‘Give that child the name Lo-ammi, because you are not my people and I am not your God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The LORD said to Hosea, "Name him Lo-Ammi, because the Israelites are not my people and I am not their God.”” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The LORD said to Hoseas, ‘Name the child Lo-Ami, for the people of Israel (are) not my people and I (am) not their God.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “God said, ‘Name (sing.) him Lo-Ammi, because you Israelita are not my people and I am not your God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “Yahweh said ‘Give him the name Lo-ammi, which means ‘not my people’, because the people of Israel are no longer my people, and I am not their God.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 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 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).
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.
And the LORD said: The Hebrew is literally “And he said,” but most translators will need to make the LORD explicit. Good News Translation also identifies the prophet explicitly by adding “to Hosea.” The conjunction And may be translated “Then” (New International Version) in this context.
Call his name Not my people, for …: For the construction of this sentence, see 1.4 and 1.6. The third symbolic name, Not my people, is a sign that God no longer regards Israel as his people. New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, and New International Version transliterate this name, saying “Lo-Ammi,” but we also do not recommend this (see comments on 1.6). The Hebrew word for people refers to a group of people that can be identified, such as a clan or a nation. Bible en français courant avoids the use of a negative particle by translating the name as “Foreigner,” but the contrast with “My people” in 2.1 then becomes less obvious in most languages. So this rendering is not recommended.
You are not my people and I am not your God: This statement resembles a decree of divorce. In this case God cancels the covenant relationship between himself and Israel (see Exo 6.7). The Hebrew pronouns for you and your are both plural. Since God is speaking to Hosea, not to Israel, Good News Translation restructures this statement as follows: “the people of Israel are not my people and I am not their God.” Stylistically the repetition of “people” within one sentence may not be acceptable to everybody. An alternative is “Israel is not my people, and I am not their God” (New Living Translation). Many languages distinguish between you (singular) and you (plural). In that case the problem does not arise. The change from second to third person plural pronouns (for example, from your to “their”) seems to exclude Hosea. The Hebrew text does not support this. An alternative rendering that includes Hosea is “You, Israelites, are not my people and I am not your God.”
In Hebrew I am not your God is literally “I [am] not I AM for you.” This is a clear reference to Exo 3.14, where God revealed his name to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (see the comments on “LORD” at 1.1). It is as if God cancels his covenant with Israel, saying “I am not Yahweh for you,” “I am not effectively present for you,” or “I am not available for you.” The Hebrew can also be translated “I do not exist for you” (New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). It is difficult to render the full impact of this statement. Most translations only provide the broad meaning, as in Good News Translation with “I am not their God” (similarly Revised Standard Version, King James Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, An American Translation, Zürcher Bibel). This rendering does make it easier to coordinate the translation of this verse with that of 2.23, which reverses the idea of this verse and clearly expresses “my God.” If the actual Hebrew reading (literally “I [am] not I AM for you”) is preferred, translators can follow Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling by saying “I am no longer there for you.” It may also be helpful to add a footnote explaining that this statement is an allusion to the divine name in Exo 3.14 (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
Translation models for this verse are:
• Then the LORD said, “You should name him Not-My-People, because you are not my people and I do not exist for you.”
• The LORD told Hosea, “Call him Not My People, for you, Israelites, are not my people and I am not your God.”
Quoted with permission from Dorn, Louis & van Steenbergen, Gerrit. A Handbook on Hosea. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Name him Lo-ammi: The literal meaning of the Hebrew name Lo-ammi is “Not my people.” It is important that your translation communicates the meaning of the name to your readers. If possible, use the same method to express the meaning of Lo-ammi as you used to express the meaning of Lo-ruhamah in 1:6b.
1:9b
for: This word introduces the reason that the LORD told Hosea to name his child Lo-ammi. Most English versions translate it as for or “because.” Some versions leave this connection implied. Use a natural way in your language to introduce this reason.
you are not My people: This is the reason that the LORD told Hosea to name his son Lo-ammi. The name will indicate to the people of Israel that the LORD will no longer regard them as his people.
The pronoun you here is plural. Although God was speaking to Hosea, the plural pronoun indicates that these words referred to the people of Israel. If it is confusing to use a plural you pronoun, you may need to change the wording to make it clear that this clause refers to a group of people. For example:
because the people of Israel are not my people (Good News Translation) -or-
because you, the people of Israel, are not my people
and I am not your God: In Hebrew, this clause is literally “and I, I will not be to you(plur).” The word God is not in the Hebrew, but it is clearly implied. It is recommended that you make it explicit, as in most English versions.
If you translated the previous phrase “you are not my people” similarly to the Good News Translation, it is suggested that you follow a similar approach here. For example:
and I am not their God (Good News Translation)
In some languages, a phrase such as your God may imply “God belongs to you.” If that is true in your language, you may need to express the meaning of this phrase in a different way. For example:
I am no longer the God whom you worship/serve.
If you have a section heading between this verse and 1:10, you will need to decide whether to use a closed quote mark at the end of the LORD’s words. Some versions do, others do not. The meaning lines in the Display will use closed quote marks.
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