bear child / give birth

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bear (a child)” or “give birth to” is translated in Mairasi as “go to the forest,” reflecting the traditional place of childbirth for Mairasi women. (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

In Spanish it is translated as dar a luz, literally “to give to light.” Likewise, in Portuguese (dar à luz) and Italian (dare alla luce). (Source: Mark Terwilliger)

See also in childbirth / travail and birth.

complete verse (Jeremiah 22:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 22:26:

  • Kupsabiny: “I will chase you away with your mother to go to another country to become prisoners. You will go to a land you were not born in and you shall both die there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-throw- you (sing.) -away and your (sing.) mother to another place where- you -were-not-born, and there you (plur.) will-die.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will expel you and your mother from this land, and you will be taken to another country. Neither of you was born there, but you will both die there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 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).

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

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 22:26

Hurl is the same verb used in 16.13. Good News Translation understands hurl … into another country as “force you … into exile.”

The mother who bore you is simply another way of saying “your mother.”

In Hebrew you were not born and you shall die are plural forms of the verb, and so Good News Translation translates “where neither of you was born, and both of you will die there.”

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 .