The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).
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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.
Both Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch introduce this section by identifying the speaker: “The LORD says.”
My house (see 2.4) here refers to the nation Israel, as Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch make clear. Translators can say “my own nation” or “my own land” (see Zech 9.8). Revised English Bible translates “the house of Israel.” Other translators have “my people Israel.”
My heritage: See the comment at 2.7. In this context it refers to God’s own possession, the people he chose for himself. Good News Translation has “my chosen nation.” Translators can also say “the people I chose for myself,” or simply “my own people.”
The term beloved occurs only here in the Old Testament; it is equivalent to the term used in 11.15. The beloved of my soul is a way of indicating deep affection: “The people whom I loved with all my heart” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Good News Translation has “the people I love,” Revised English Bible “my beloved,” and New Jerusalem Bible “what I dearly loved.”
Hands (so most translations) is here a symbol of “power” (Revised English Bible). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “I have given them over to their enemies.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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