says the LORD / says the Lord GOD

The English that is translated as “says the Lord” or “says the Lord God” is translated in some influential French translations as oracle de Yahvé (La Bible de Jérusalem) oracle du Seigneur (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), and oracle de l’Éternel (Nouvelle Version Segond Révisée 1978) or “oracle (authoritative statement) of YHWH (or: the Lord).”

Timothy Lloyd Wilt (in The Bible Translator 1999, p. 301ff. ) describes the Hebrew ne’um (adonay) YHWH (quoting S. Meier, 1992) as “a highly marked expression (…) Hebrew does not characteristically repunctuate quoted discourse with reminders of the quote’s source, making this particle’s function quite distinctive and certainly unique in its frequency and distribution.”

The French translations above are emulating this with their distinct wording containing the French oracle.

Similarly, the French translation by Chouraqui uses harangue de or “harangue (or: ‘sermon’) of YHWH” and the English translation by Fox uses Utterance of YHWH. Both of these translations are Jewish translations that attempt to emulate the Hebraic nature of the original text. (Source: Drew Maust) Likewise, the translation by Goldingay (2018) has Yahweh’s declaration, typically set in parentheses: (Yahweh’s declaration).

The translation into Kera marks this by using the equivalent of “the words of me, YHWH” (source: Jackie Hainaut) and a language in West Africa, belonging to the Mande language family, uses a honorific form of “say,” that is only used for speech from God or his prophets. Both of these languages are spoken in francophone Africa.

See also Thus says the LORD, “By this you shall know that I am the LORD.” and tetragrammaton (YHWH).

complete verse (Jeremiah 23:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 23:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “The God of Israel is saying about the kings who should have taken care of his people, ‘You (plur.) did not take care of my people, but you scattered and chased (them). Therefore, I am going to punish you (plur.) for the sin you have been doing.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD, the God of Israel said, ‘You (plur.) are-to-be-pitied leaders/[lit. heads] of my people! You (plur.) are like the ones-who-watch the sheep who kill and scatter the sheep. So because you (plur.) have-scattered my people and did- not -take-care, I will-punish you (plur.). Yes, I will-punish you (plur.) because of the wickedness you (plur.) have-done.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So, this is what I, Yahweh, the God whom the Israeli people worship, say to those leaders: ‘Instead of taking care of my people and leading them to places where they are safe, like a shepherd does for his sheep, you have scattered them. So I will punish you for the evil things that you have done.” (Source: Translation for Translators)