19I will restore Israel to its pasture, and it shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead its hunger shall be satisfied.
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Ephraim” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “palm tree” referring to the palm of Deborah in the land of Ephraim (see Judges 4:5. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 50:19:
Kupsabiny: “I will return the people of Israel to go to their land and they shall eat food that (they) plant in the hillsides of Carmel and Bashan. They shall eat all the food that comes from the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But I will-let- the Israelinhon -return to their nation. They will-be like sheep grazing at Carmel, Bashan, and in the hills of Efraim and Gilead, and they will- surely -be-satisfied/full.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And I will bring the people of Israel back to their own land where they will eat the food that grows in the fields of the Carmel and Bashan regions, and the people in the hilly areas of Ephraim and Gilead will have all they want to eat.” (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.
Although it is possible to retain the singular for Israel in this verse (Israel … his … he … his), it does represent collectively the people of Israel, and the plural may be more natural: “The people of Israel … their … they … their.”
To his pasture retains the metaphor of the sheep; the reference is to the land of the people of Israel.
He shall feed on … also continues the metaphor of sheep. Good News Translation renders “They will eat the food that grows….” Carmel (46.18), Bashan (22.20), Ephraim (31.6), and Gilead (8.22) were former territories of the northern kingdom. The LORD promises to restore the people of Israel to their land.
The text goes on to say his desire shall be satisfied, which is to say, he [or, the people] will eat all they want.
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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