complete verse (John 7:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 7:34:

  • Uma: “You will look for me, but you will no longer find me. And where I am going you cannot go.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You will look for me but you will not find me because you cannot go to where I will be.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You will look for me, but you will not be able to find me because you cannot come to the place where I will live.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “In-the-future you will search-and-search for me, but you won’t be-able-to-find me, because where-I-will-be, it is not possible for you to go.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “You will search and search for me, but you won’t find me, because you won’t be able to go there to where I’m returning.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “You will hunt for me but you won’t find me because you are not able to go where I will be.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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 Translator 2002, 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 most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 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).

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

Translation commentary on John 7:34

You will look for me has reference to the time after Jesus has returned to the Father. The implication is that there will be a time when they will look for Jesus (to help them) but it will be too late. It is, of course, in contrast to the present when they are looking for him in order to kill him.

Where I will be is literally “and where I am.” Again the present tense “I am” has a future reference and is better translated I will be. It is possible, though not probable, that “I am” may really be “I go.” In Greek these two verbs are spelled alike except for the accent, but very few commentators and apparently no translators understand the verb here to mean “I go.” The point is that Jesus will be with the Father after his death, but these people cannot be with the Father even if they die. In the clause you cannot go where I will be, the pronouns I and you are emphatic, in strong contrast to each other.

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 .