pour out Spirit

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “pour out (my) Spirit” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • “spread Spirit” (has idea of distribution without exhausting the source, as light may be spread from person and the total amount of light increased) in Coatlán Mixe
  • “send Spirit, he will enter the hearts of all people” in Central Pame and Lalana Chinantec
  • “give Spirit” in Isthmus Mixe
  • “send Spirit to possess people” in Teutila Cuicatec
  • “put on you the Holy Spirit of God” in Eastern Highland Otomi
  • “give-down Spirit” in Chuj(source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

complete verse (Joel 2:29)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joel 2:29:

  • Kupsabiny: “I will also anoint with my Spirit in those days
    servants/slaves whether men or women.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “And on that day, I will also pour out my spirit
    on my men servants and women servants.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “In that time I will- also -give my Spirit to male and female servants.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Even the males and females who are slaves, I will send my Spirit to enter them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

See also complete verse (Acts 2:18),

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”.

Translation commentary on Joel 2:29

Even upon the menservants and the maidservants: God’s spirit will not be restricted to the leading people but will be shared with the poorer classes as well. Menservants and maidservants include not only hired workers but also slaves, who were part of the community in ancient times. No one is left out on the basis of whether they are important or unimportant people. New Revised Standard Version says “male and female slaves,” while Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have “servants, both men and women.”

In those days refers to the time in the future when the day of Yahweh will occur. Good News Translation says “At that time.”

I will pour out my spirit repeats part of the second line of the previous verse. Such repetition frequently shows the end of a discourse segment in Joel (see the comments on verse 27). Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation insert a blank line at the end of this verse to indicate such a discourse break.

Good News Translation and Revised English Bible have reversed the order of the two lines in this verse for better style. Translators may do the same if it is appropriate in their language.

Quoted with permission from de Blois, Kees & Dorn, Louis. A Handbook on Joel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Joel 2:29

2:29a Even on My menservants and maidservants,

And also on the male servants and female servants
-or-
I will even include ⌊your (plur.) ⌋ male and female servants

2:29b I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

I will pour out my Spirit at that time.
-or-
in those days, when I will freely give my Spirit.

2:29a–b (reordered)

In those days, I will even/also pour out my Spirit on male servants and female servants.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Commentaire sur la traduction de Joël 2.29

Par sa répétition de la phrase je répandrai mon Esprit, ce verset ferme l’inclusion ou enveloppe ouverte dans le verset précédent.

Même sur les serviteurs et les servantes : ce vers relie ce qui suit au vers précédent, grâce à la double conjonction de l’hébreu « et aussi ». Ce mot même accentue le fait qu’on ne s’attend pas à cet acte. Le Seigneur envoie son Esprit sur toute la communauté d’Israël, même chose inattendue sur leurs serviteurs et servantes.

les serviteurs et les servantes : en hébreu il y a deux termes ici. serviteur rend le mot général pour serviteur ou « esclave ». Celui pour servantes ne provient pas de la même racine, mais paraît en paire avec serviteur souvent dans le livre de Genèse (Joël 12.13, etc.). C’est le terme que Ruth utilise lorsqu’elle se réfère à elle-même dans sa discussion avec Booz (Ruth 2.13). Malgré la différence en termes, les traducteurs pourront aussi reformuler comme la Bible de Jérusalem l’a fait : « Même sur les esclaves, hommes et femmes ». Il est très frappant que Dieu offre son don aux personnes considérées par les Israélites comme faisant partie des couches sociales les plus basses. En effet, la générosité de Dieu n’a pas de limites.

en ce temps-là est littéralement « en ces jours là ». Dans le livre de Joël, le mot jour joue un rôle important, et si possible, il sera mieux de le garder ici.

Pour je répandrai mon Esprit, voir Joël 2.28 ci-dessus. Les traducteurs devraient prendre soin de rendre ce vers exactement comme 2.28a.

Source: Aroga Bessong, Dieudonné P.; Somé, Joachim & Zogbo, Lynell. Joël – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2010.