The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 9:13:
Kupsabiny: “Then God answered, ‘It is like that because they refused to follow my laws that I gave to (them). They refused to obey what I am saying.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The LORD replied, ‘This has-happened because they did- not -obey my law which I gave to them. They did- not -obey me or follow my law.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Yahweh replied, ‘These things will happen because my people have rejected my laws which I gave to them; they have not obeyed me or my instructions.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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.
And the LORD says is translated “The LORD answered” by Good News Translation and “The Lord himself gives the answer” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.
My law which I set before them (literally “my law which I put before their faces”) is translated “the teaching that I gave them” by Good News Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch simply has “my instruction.” It omits the clause, which I set before them, on the grounds that the information will be understood without needing to be stated. Law is first used in 2.8.
Hebrew frequently speaks of a part of the body as representative of the total person. Such is the case with voice, which Good News Translation translates “me.” Have not obeyed my voice, or walked in accord with it is translated “they did not obey what I said” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Translators could also say “They did not obey what I said, or live as I told them.”
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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