forget

The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “forget” in English is translated in Noongar as dwangka-anbangbat, lit. “ear-lose.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also remember and forget (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Jeremiah 18:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 18:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “But my people have forgotten me,
    burning for idols things that smell sweet.
    That caused them to fall so
    they no longer follow the ways of old.
    But they are now passing along narrow roads
    instead of the wide ones.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But my people have- now -forgotten me. They burn incense to the worthless little-gods. They abandoned the right and old path and walked on the road which is not good where they stumbled.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But my people are not as reliable as those streams:
    They have abandoned me.
    They burn incense to honor/worship worthless idols.
    It is as though they have stumbled as they walked along very old roads that are good roads,
    and now, instead, they are walking on dirt paths.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 18:15

But my people have forgotten me: The term rendered But introduces a strong contrast to what is in verse 14. In this context have forgotten me means something like “have turned away from me” or “have rejected me.”

For burn incense, see 1.16.

False gods is translated “idols” by Good News Translation and Revised English Bible. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “gods who are nothing.” New American Bible has “a thing that does not exist.” The noun itself means something that is “worthless” or “deceitful.” It is frequently used in an adverbial construction meaning “in vain” (see Jer 2.30; 4.30; 6.29; 46.11). Translators can also say “worthless idols.”

Stumbled is the rendering of several ancient versions; Hebrew has “they made them stumble” (Revised Standard Version note). If the Hebrew text is followed, as Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends, then the meaning may be “They [the false gods] made them [the people of Israel] stumble.” New International Version, for example, has “worthless idols, which make them stumble in their ways.”

The ancient roads and the highway would be the route marked out for Israel by the LORD. Instead of going the LORD’s way, they went off into bypaths (that is, the way of the Canaanite religions). Since ancient roads and highway are both referring to the LORD’s way, translators may be able to restructure the last four lines slightly, as in “The worthless idols have caused them to stumble and get away from the ways of old. Instead of following the good road, they have gone along the poor paths” or “… have caused them to stumble. They no longer follow the good ways they knew before, but have followed paths that lead nowhere.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders “Led astray by them [the false gods], they stumbled along the way; they even abandoned the road and went astray.”

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 .