Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 21:8:
Kupsabiny: “Go and also tell the people that God is saying, ‘Listen please! Do you want to choose the way of life or of death?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘You (plur.) also tell the people of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD is-saying: Listen! [You (plur.)] choose between life or death.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And tell this to all the people: ‘Yahweh says that you must decide whether you want to die or to remain alive.” (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).
The way of life and the way of death: See the similar statement in Deut 30.15, 19. In the present context life is escape from being put to death at the hands of the Babylonians, as verse 9 makes clear. The way of life and the way of death are expressed clearly in Good News Translation: “the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.”
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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