complete verse (Jeremiah 51:46)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 51:46:

  • Kupsabiny: “Do not lose heart (stomach die) or be afraid,
    when you hear things crashing in this land.
    This/One word is thrown around (rumors) in this year
    and another year another (rumor) is being told again.
    Uproar/riots will surely be foretold in the land
    that this king is fighting another one.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But do- not -be-afraid or weaken when the news concerning the war will-come. For the news concerning the fighting of the kings will-come every year.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 51:46

Let not your heart faint is expressed as “Do not lose courage” by Good News Translation and “Be not discouraged” by New American Bible. The expression occurs also in Deut 20.3 and Job 23.16.

Report (all three occurrences) has the meaning of “rumor” (so most all modern translations). The meaning of the last four lines is expressed clearly by Good News Translation: “Every year a different rumor spreads—rumors of violence in the land and of one king fighting another.” Some commentators note that political intrigue and internal strife were characteristic of the Babylonian empire for some years before its fall. For violence see 6.7.

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 .