silent / deserted place

In Gbaya, the notion of a silent or deserted place with no more voices in the referenced verses is emphasized with the ideophone wékéké.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Jeremiah 47:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 47:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “Violence has come to the people of Gaza and they mourn
    the city of Ashkelon has been wiped out and fallen silent.
    And you who used to be brave,
    for how long will you cut yourselves while mourning?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Those from-Gaza will shave-their-head to show their mourning, and those from-Ashkelon will-silently grieve. You (plur.) residents in the valley, until when is- your (plur.) -wounding/cutting yourselves in showing your mourning?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The people of Gaza will be humiliated;
    they will shave off all the hair on their heads to indicate that they are ashamed.
    The people of Ashkelon city will all be silent because they will be mourning.
    All you people who live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea who are still alive,
    how long will you gash yourselves because you are mourning?’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 47:5

Baldness: The reference is to shaving of the head, which was a sign of “Great sorrow” (Good News Translation). The same thing is true of self-inflicted gashes (how long will you gash yourselves?), which follows three lines below. See 16.6. Good News Translation has dropped the symbolic acts themselves to express only the meaning, “Great sorrow” and “mourn.” Some translators retain both the image and the basis of the comparison: “The people of Gaza have shaved their heads to show their sorrow,” and “gash [or, cut] yourselves in mourning.” Of course, the meaning of the symbolic acts can also be put in a footnote.

Ashkelon: See 25.19-26.

Has perished: Some scholars interpret the word as “are silenced” or “are silent.” The meaning is similar, since if the city were dead, it would be silent. Thus translators can render “have perished,” “are silent,” or “have been silenced.” Of course, the translation can be either that the city Ashkelon has perished or that the people there have, depending on the language.

O remnant of the Anakim: As the Revised Standard Version note indicates, the rendering Anakim follows the Septuagint; the standard Hebrew text has “their valley,” hence translations, such as New Jerusalem Bible, have “You who remain in the valley.” But others, for example New International Version, have “remnant on the plain.” The difference in Hebrew is merely one consonant, which could easily have been changed in copying the ancient Hebrew script. If Anakim was the original text, then the reference is to the old race of giants (see Num 13.33; Deut 9.2). Bible en français courant follows this with “You, the survivors of the giants.” It is possible that the Hebrew word rendered “valley,” may also have a meaning that is the equivalent of “strength.” If this is the case, then we may render “the remnant of their strength,” meaning “those who are left alive.” Revised English Bible, for example, has “the remnant of the Philistine power.” This is also the basis for Good News Translation “How long will the rest of Philistia mourn?”

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 .