Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 49:27:
Kupsabiny: “I shall set fire to the walls of Damascus and burn the home/palace of king Ben-hadad.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-burn the walls of Damascus, as-well-as the strong/firm part of its city of King Ben Hadad. I, the LORD Almighty, (am) the-(one) saying this.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And I, the Commander of the armies of angels, will start a fire to burn the walls that surround Damascus, and the palaces of King Ben-Hadad will be burned down.’” (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.
The content of this verse is very similar to Amos 1.4.
Kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus is better rendered “set the walls of Damascus on fire” (Good News Translation).
Devour is here used of fire and so may be translated “burn down.”
Strongholds is better rendered “palaces” (New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, New American Bible). See 6.5, where Revised Standard Version has “palaces.”
Ben-hadad is the name or title of several kings of Damascus (1Kgs 15.18, 20; 2Kgs 13.24). The name means “son of Hadad,” in which Hadad was a storm god of the ancient world, similar to the Canaanite god Baal.
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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