12and because you have behaved worse than your ancestors, for here you are, every one of you, following your stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 16:12:
Kupsabiny: “But you have done very bad surpassing your forefathers. Look, a person is doing like/as his bad thoughts are leading (him) so that he does not listen to my words.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “And you (plur.) are more wicked than your (plur.) ancestors. You (plur.) followed the hardness of your (plur.) wicked heart instead that you (plur.) follow me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But you who are living now have done more wicked things than your ancestors did! Each of you stubbornly does the evil things that he desires and refuses to pay attention to what I say.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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.
To have done worse can refer to “worse things” or “worse sins.”
Behold: See the comment at 1.6.
Every one of you follows his stubborn evil will: Compare “they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart” in 3.17. A similar translation would be good here. The word here rendered will by Revised Standard Version is literally “heart,” that part of the human personality which for the ancient Israelites meant the will or the mind. There are many ways to convey the meaning here. Besides the models above, translators can also have “Every one of you stubbornly continues to do the evil you yourself want.”
As elsewhere, refusing to listen to me can be translated as “you refuse to obey me.”
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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