הִנְנִ֣י מְעִירָ֔ם מִן־הַ֨מָּק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁר־מְכַרְתֶּ֥ם אֹתָ֖ם שָׁ֑מָּה וַהֲשִׁבֹתִ֥י גְמֻלְכֶ֖ם בְּרֹאשְׁכֶֽם׃
7But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sell” in English is translated in Noongar as wort-bangal or “away-barter.” Note that “buy” is translated as bangal-barranga or “get-barter.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
See also buy and buying / selling.
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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.
But now is literally “Behold me” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “Behold”). This expression serves as an attention-getter, directing the hearer to listen carefully to what the speaker will say (see 2.19). There is also contrast with the previous verse that is implied, and every translator will have to express this in a normal manner. Good News Translation and Jerusalem Bible have simply “Now”; Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy use “But”; and New Jerusalem Bible says “Look.” In some languages it may be more natural to translate “Pay attention [to what I am going to do].”
I will stir them up in the Hebrew implies both awakening the slaves from Judah and setting them in motion. New Revised Standard Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh say “I will rouse them.” God will cause them to take action so that they will return from their place of captivity. The form of action is not specified, whether they would rebel or find other means of gaining freedom. Contemporary English Version translates “I will make the people of Judah determined [to come home].” Some translations emphasize God’s part in the action; for example, Good News Translation says “I am going to bring them out,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I am calling them back.”
From the place to which you have sold them primarily refers to the land of the Greeks (verse 6), but includes all the other lands to which the people of Judah had been sold as slaves, so Good News Translation says “places” instead of place. For this whole clause Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch simply says “from there.”
And I will requite your deed upon your own head closely repeats the last clause in Joel 3.4. Here it means that the people of Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia will become slaves, as proper punishment for their making slaves of the people of Judah. Good News Translation says “I will do to you what you have done to them,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “and I will cause your misdeeds to fall back upon yourselves.”
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 .
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 show 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”.