Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
Following are a number of back-translations of John 5:46:
Uma: “But if you really believed Musa, certainly you would also believe me, because what Musa wrote, it concerns / was about [lit., touches] me.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “If you truly believed Musa, you should believe me because it is about me hep that he wrote in the holy-book.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If only your belief in him was true, you would be able to believe also in me because he wrote about me.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “because if you did believe/obey-it, you would also believe/obey me, because what Moses wrote, I am the one he is speaking-about.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “If it’s so that you are believing-in/obeying Moises, surely it’s necessary that as for me, you indeed believe-in/obey me also, because as for the things he wrote, I really am the one he was referring to.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “If you had believed the word Moses spoke, you also would have believed me then. Because Moses wrote in the book about me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language (and Hungarian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Korean Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the arms held up by Moses to assure the Israelites victory over the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:11).
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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.
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
The if clause in this verse presupposes that the Jews did not believe Moses. Good News Translation translates it If you had really believed Moses. Jerusalem Bible has “If you really believed him.”
There are difficulties involved in translating a condition contrary to fact in present or past time. The negation of such a condition must sometimes be made explicit in a separate clause, for example, “If you believed Moses—but you really have not believed him—then you would believe me.” It may even be necessary to indicate the negation of the second part of the condition, for example, “you would believe me—but you really do not.” If the second part of the condition is set off by a negative statement, it is necessary to treat the final clause in a somewhat different manner, for example, “It is clear you do not believe Moses, because he wrote about me” or “it is clear you do not believe what Moses wrote, because he wrote about me.” The logical force of this final clause, introduced by because, is made clearer in the following verse.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
The Greek text includes a word at the beginning of this verse that means “because.” The idea is that Moses would accuse the Jewish leaders because they did not believe him. And Jesus knows that they did not believe Moses because if they had believed Moses, they would believe him. English translations leave this word implied, but you may want to make it explicit. For example:
because if you truly believed Moses, then you would ⌊also⌋ believe me -or-
⌊He will accuse you of not believing him⌋ because if you believed him, you would believe me
If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me: These clauses form a logical argument. The first clause is a condition that had not been fulfilled, that is contrary to fact. Jesus was saying that the religious leaders did not really believe Moses. If they had believed what Moses wrote, they would have listened to Jesus, but they did not. The fact that they did not believe Jesus showed that they did not believe Moses.
In some languages it may be necessary to imply or state explicitly that the leaders believed neither Moses nor Jesus. For example:
If you really believed Moses, you would believe me. (God’s Word) -or-
If you did believe what Moses ⌊wrote⌋ , you would believe me. ⌊But you do not believe him/us.⌋
In some languages a condition that is contrary to fact (never happened) may be unnatural or hard to understand. It may be necessary to say it in a positive way:
Those who believe Moses will believe me ⌊also⌋ .
had believed…would believe: Here the idea of these words is believing what Moses wrote and what Jesus said. That is made clear in 5:47.
5:46b
because: The Greek word that Berean Standard Bible translates as because here introduces the reason why those who believe Moses must also believe Jesus. Here is another way to translate this word:
for (New Revised Standard Version)
he wrote about Me: This clause means “Moses wrote about Jesus.” Moses wrote about the coming of a prophet in Deuteronomy 18:15–19. Jesus was saying that he was that prophet. In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here. For example:
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