The Hebrew that is translated as “prostitute oneself” or “play the prostitute” in English is translated in Vidunda as “(practice) sexual immorality.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
sister (younger sister)
The Hebrew that is translated as “sister” in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese as mèimei (妹妹) or “younger sister.”
Judah, Judea
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)
“Judah” and “Judea” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
See also Judah.
Translation commentary on Jeremiah 3:8
She saw (so most translations) has manuscript support, though the Hebrew text has “I saw” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The Hebrew Old Testament Text Project Committee believes that the subject is God, and that what he saw is stated in the second half of the verse. Therefore they propose this meaning: “And I saw that, when … I had sent away Israel…, she became not afraid….” Translators may follow either of the above options.
For faithless see verse 6.
I had sent her away with a decree of divorce is placed in the proper time sequence by Good News Translation: “I divorced Israel and sent her away.” With a decree of divorce (literally “I gave a decree of divorce to her”) reflects the law of Deut 25.1-4. For divorce see verse 1.
The restructuring of Good News Translation for the first sentence will be a helpful model for many translators. Or we could say something like “She saw what happened to Israel who turned from me [unfaithfully]. Because she committed adultery as she did, I divorced her and sent her away.”
False translates a participle made from the same stem as the adjective in verse 7; the two words are equivalent in this context and should be rendered the same in translation. Elsewhere in Jeremiah, Revised Standard Version represents the verb/participle as “false” (3.11), “faithless” (3.20; 5.11), “treacherous” (9.2; 12.1), and “dealt treacherously with” (12.6).
Did not fear (Good News Translation “was not afraid”) may require an object in some languages: “did not fear me” or “did not fear that I might punish her in the same way.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “But this did not frighten her unfaithful sister.”
Played the harlot: The same expression occurs in verse 6. See the comment at 2.20.
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 .
first person pronoun referring to God
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 show 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”.