complete verse (Jeremiah 48:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 48:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “Come down also you people of Dibon
    from that place of honor where you are
    and sit down in the dust
    because the one destroying Moab has come/arrived to where you are,
    and has torn down the cities with a wall around.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘You residents of Dibon, [you (plur.)] be-humble and sit on the ground/sand, for the destroyer of Moab will- also -attack you (plur.) and they will-destroy your cities that (are)-surrounded-by-walls.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You people of Dibon city, stop being proud because of being honored,
    and sit in the dust/dirt,
    because those who will destroy other places in Moab will attack your city
    and destroy your high walls.” (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 48:18

Glory is given the meaning “place of honor” by Good News Translation and “prideful height” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.

The parched ground translates one word in Hebrew, which some commentators believe ought to be given different vowels to give the meaning “excrement.” This is the basis for Bright “sit in filth.” Of course, whether translators have “dry dust” or “filth,” the basic call remains for Moab to come down from a place of honor to an exceedingly lowly place. In Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch a contrast is drawn between the “prideful height” and the “dust” where they are commanded to sit: “come down from your prideful height and sit in the dust!”

Inhabitant of Dibon: Dibon was a Moabite city east of the Dead Sea; the famous Moabite stone was found here. The singular form inhabitant can be understood in a collective sense for all those who live in Dibon. It is more natural in many languages to begin the verse with this expression, as Good News Translation has.

The destroyer of Moab: See verses 8, 15.

Has come up against you; that is, “has attacked you.”

Strongholds here means “fortresses” or possibly “fortified cities” (New International Version). See 1.18, where Revised Standard Version has “fortified city.”

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 .