complete verse (Jeremiah 9:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 9:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “So the God of power is saying,
    ‘I shall come and make them go through the fire of pain/punishment
    so they can become clean.
    What else is there that I can do to my people
    for their great sin/disobedience?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore I, the LORD Almighty, says that I will-refine my people like a metal, and I will-test them. What else can I do with them?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Therefore I, the Commander of the armies of angels, say this:
    Listen carefully to what I say: I will cause my people to experience great afflictions,
    like a metalworker puts metal in a hot fire to completely burn out the impure bits.
    Because of all the evil things that my people have done,
    there is absolutely nothing else that I can do.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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.

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

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 9:7

Therefore thus (Good News Translation “Because of this”) represents a way of drawing a strong conclusion on the basis of what was previously said.

The LORD of hosts: See the comment at 2.19. See also 2.2 for thus says the LORD.

For behold see 1.6.

The verb refine was used earlier in 6.29. Test was used earlier in 6.27, where it is rendered “assayer” and “assay.” Refine has the idea of making something pure. In the case of metals, this is generally accomplished by fire. Thus translators have sometimes used “purify,” sometimes “purify in fire.” However, in this context with test, translators try to convey the idea that the LORD will test his people with fire, that is, with affliction: “I will test them with fire” or “As fire refines metal, I will test these people with affliction.”

The LORD asks for what else can I do? This question is not asking for an answer; it is, rather, stating “There is nothing else I can do with these people,” which is what some translations have said in languages where the question would be misunderstood.

Because of my people translates a Hebrew idiom, which is literally “from the face of the house of my people.” Here it is equivalent to “because of what my people have done” or “because of the evil things that my people have done.”

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 .