4Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent
The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 19:4:
Kupsabiny: “I am going to do like that because people have abandoned me and made idols in this land in order to make sacrifices to things that they did not know at all, even their forefathers or/and the rulers of Judah. And again they have killed here people who had no sin/mistake.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-do this, for my people have-rejected me, and this valley/plain they made into a place-of-offering of burnt offerings for other gods. These gods they did not even know or by their ancestors or by the kings of Juda. They even killed innocent children in this place.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “That will happen because you Israeli people have stopped worshiping me, and have caused this place to be a place where you worship foreign gods. You burn sacrifices to gods that neither you nor your ancestors nor even the kings of Judah ever heard about. And you have filled this place with the blood of innocent people whom you have killed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
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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.
Profaned this place: Good News Translation renders profaned as “defiled.” This could also be rendered as “treated with contempt” or “made it unworthy.” However, another way to understand the Hebrew is as “alien.” Thus Revised English Bible has “made this a place of alien worship,” New International Version “made this a place of foreign gods,” and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “[they have] alienated this place.” Translators who follow this interpretation could also say “made this place foreign [to me].”
Burning incense may be rendered “offering sacrifices” (Good News Translation); see 1.16.
Neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known: The expression probably means “neither … nor … nor … have known anything about” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the clause as follows: “Of these gods have they earlier known nothing, neither their ancestors nor the kings of Judah.” See 9.16; 16.13.
It is often helpful to break the first sentence into two, as in “The people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by burning incense to worship other gods. They don’t even know anything about these gods, and nor did their ancestors or the kings of Judah” or “… to worship other gods. And these are gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known anything about.”
They have filled this place with the blood of innocents: The reference to innocents is not to children, but to “innocent people” (Good News Translation; so also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Therefore this clause can be “They have also shed the blood of innocent people here.”
Because … because …: It may be good to make it clear that the LORD is going to bring disaster for several reasons: the people have abandoned him; they have defiled (or, made alien) this place; they have shed the blood of innocent people there; and (verse 5) they have built altars for Baal to sacrifice their children. The verse begins with Because, which Good News Translation relates to the previous verse: “I am going to do this because….” This is quite legitimate because the disasters the LORD promises from verse 6 on are really just the details of “such evil” back in verse 3. However, it is sometimes necessary to express cause and effect in a slightly different way; for example, by translating verses 4-6 as follows:
• 4 The people have abandoned me and defiled this place by burning incense as sacrifices to gods that they or their ancestors or the kings of Judah don’t even know. They have shed the blood of innocent people here, 5 and have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children as sacrifices. 6 This is not something I commanded them to do. It never even entered my mind. Because they have done all this, the time is coming when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom’s Son Valley; people will call it Slaughter Valley.
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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