their wickedness has come up before me

The Hebrew that is translated as “their wickedness has come up before me” or similar in English is translated in the Pfälzisch translation by Walter Sauer (publ. 2012) with the common idiom ihr Bosheit stinkt zum Himmel or “their wickedness smells all the way to heaven.” (source: Zetzsche)

complete verse (Jonah 1:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jonah 1:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “‘Get up and go to Nineveh, that big/great city and rebuke the people of that city for the sin/evil which I have heard which they are doing/committing.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I know the evil work that the people of the great city of Nineveh are doing. So go there quickly and say to them ‘God will punish you because of that.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘You (sing.) go right-away/without-delay to Nineve, the big city, and warn the people there, because their wickedness has- now -reached me.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “He said, ‘Go immediately to Nineve which is a mutually-reported-about city so-that you (sing.) will tell the people there that I will soon punish them, because I know-about their excessive sins.’” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “‘I have seen how wicked the people of the great city of Nineveh are. Therefore go there and warn the people that I am planning to destroy their city because of their sins.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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”.

Commentaire sur la traduction de Jonas 1.2

Ce verset présente une citation directe du message de Dieu pour Jonas. Dans certaines langues, il sera nécessaire de la transformer en citation indirecte, mais la citation directe est vivante et ajoute au style du récit. Les traducteurs devraient le garder si possible.

Lève-toi ! rend l’impératif du verbe hébreu קום qwm. Ce verbe peut avoir son sens primaire, une invitation à se lever. par exemple, « Debout ! ». Mai il est aussi fréquemment utilisé avec un sens dit « inchoatif », marquant le début d’une action (Gen 19.14-15 ; Ex 32.1 ; Jug 4.14). La personne interpellée n’est pas nécessairement couchée ou assise au moment où elle reçoit cet ordre. Celle-ci est invitée à agir. Dans beaucoup de langues, on pourrait dire « Pars » ou « Rends-toi tout de suite à Ninive », etc. Dans certaines langues, il vaut mieux interpeller la personne, avant de donner un ordre, par exemple, « (toi,) Jonas, lève-toi ».

va à Ninive, la grande ville : Ninive était la plus grande ville de l’empire assyrien dans le nord de la Mésopotamie. Voir Intro.

Ninive est décrite comme la grande ville. En hébreu comme dans beaucoup de langues, l’adjectif grand parle d’une grande et une grande renommée. L’adjectif grande figure 14 fois dans ce petit livre et sert de leitmotiv, soulignant le défi auquel Jonas fait face. Si possible il sera bon de garder le même mot partout.

et profère contre elle un oracle est littéralement « appeler sur/contre elle que ». Il s’agit d’un message solennel transmis par un messager officiel. Jonas devra proclamer un message de condamnation de la part du Seigneur. « dis-leur » serait une traduction trop faible. La Bible en français courant dit « Prononce des menaces » et la Parole de Vie, « Tu menaceras ses habitants en disant… » Dans certaines langues, ce serait « criez contre ».

Le mot oracle ne figure pas en hébreu, mais dans beaucoup de langues, il faudrait un complément d’objet direct. La Nouvelle Bible Segond parle de « proclamation » et la La Bible du Semeur de « menaces ». Mais si un verbe fort existe dans la langue cible, il pourra aussi bien servir ici.

parce que : la conjonction hébraïque כִּי kî peut avoir plusieurs fonctions en hébreu. Elle peut introduire une raison ou affirmer un fait. La première interprétation est adoptée par beaucoup de versions françaises (« car » en Nouvelle Bible Segond, Bible en français courant, La Bible du Semeur). On pourrait aussi dire « crie contre elle. En effet/Eh oui ! sa méchanceté est montée… » Certaines versions l’omettent ici (Parole de Vie). On pourrait aussi dire « annonce-lui que son iniquité est montée… »

la méchanceté de ses habitants est montée jusqu’à moi est littéralement « leur méchanceté » mais l’explicitation de la Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, de ses habitants, convient bien. En hébreu il y a un changement brusque de personne de la 3e personne fém. sing., contre elle, c’est-à-dire, contre la ville, à la 3e pers. masc. pl., litt. « leur méchanceté », celle des habitants. Ce genre de changement de référence pronominale est assez fréquente en hébreu et ne devrait pas affecter la traduction. Les traducteurs utiliseront les formes qui conviennent dans leur langue.

méchanceté rend le terme clé רָעָה râʿâh, « le mal », traduit dans plusieurs versions comme « leurs mauvaises actions ». Mais en fait, le mot désigne non seulement les actions, mais aussi les attitudes, c’est-à-dire, le cœur de la personne. Le texte rappelle le déluge provoqué par la méchanceté des hommes (Gen 6.5) et le « cri » contre Sodome et Gomorrhe (Gen 18.20-21).

est montée jusqu’à moi : ceci suggère que Dieu, du haut du ciel, regarde ce qui se passe sur terre. jusqu’à moi est littéralement « devant ma face ».

est montée rend le verbe utilisé pour un mouvement vers le haut. Il est souvent utilisé pour parler de l’arôme des sacrifices qui montent vers le Seigneur et qui lui plaisent, par exemple lorsque Noé offre des sacrifices qui plaît au Seigneur (Gen 8.21). Mais ici, c’est le contraire : l’« l’arôme » du mauvais comportement de ces gens monte vers Dieu. Dans la majorité des langues, cette formulation ne sera pas naturelle. On pourrait faire de Dieu le sujet de la phrase : « j’ai vu combien la méchanceté de ses habitants est grande » ou utiliser des expressions idiomatiques, par exemple, « car la méchanceté de ses habitants a frappé mes yeux ». La Parole de Vie reformule en se référant au Seigneur à la troisième personne, mais ceci affaiblit cette déclaration.

Source: Péter-Contesse, René & Zogbo, Lynell. Jonas – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.

Translation commentary on Jonah 1:2

This verse summarizes God’s instructions to Jonah. It begins with a word that is translated in older versions as “arise” (Revised Standard Version). But the Hebrew verb qum is frequently used with a so-called “inceptive” force to mark the beginning of an enterprise or to indicate that the action required is to take place immediately; for example, Gen 19.14, 15; Judges 4.14; Exo 32.1, in all of which Revised Standard Version has “Up!” or “Arise!” In these places the person addressed is not necessarily lying down but is being urged to act immediately (see Isa 52.2 King James Version). So here one could say “Go at once to the great city called Nineveh”—a conventional formula going back to Gen 10.12. As suggested in the phrase “to the great city called Nineveh,” it may be necessary to reverse the order of Good News Translation‘s Nineveh, that great city. The more usual order in languages is to have the generic expression that great city occur first, followed by the more specific name Nineveh; for example, “to the great city which is Nineveh,” or simply “to that great city, Nineveh.” If the phrase “great city” is placed after the term Nineveh, it may be necessary to employ a relative clause; for example, “to Nineveh, which is a great city.”

On reaching Nineveh, Jonah is to “denounce it” (New English Bible) or speak out against it. That is to say, he is to proclaim God’s message of judgment against Nineveh. He is to do so because the evil of the city is staring God in the face (compare New English Bible). The nature of Nineveh’s evil is not disclosed. The language here is similar to that of Gen 18.20, 21 with regard to Sodom and Gomorrah, which were noted for their wickedness.

Speak out against it may be difficult to render satisfactorily in some languages. It may even be necessary to use a form of direct discourse; for example, “say to them, ‘You are guilty’ ” or “declare, ‘You have sinned very much.’ ” In some cases an idiomatic expression may be employed; for example, “hang great blame upon it” or “declare that the people there are covered with guilt.”

The word ki in the Hebrew is open to more than one interpretation. It can mean “that,” introducing a noun clause, or it can mean “for, because.” At first sight it would appear that Good News Translation follows neither of these courses, but the second is in fact implied by the punctuation. Most translators render the Hebrew in the same way as Good News Translation (compare Revised Standard Version, New English Bible), but Jerusalem Bible (so also Moffatt Moffatt) renders the word as “that”: “inform them that their wickedness has become known to me,” though “inform” weakens the element of proclamation in the original. Living Bible has “It smells to highest heaven,” which is vivid but hardly justified as a translation. The Hebrew changes from third singular against it to third plural “their wickedness,” as expressed in New American Bible (New American Bible) and Revised Standard Version, but this does not need to be brought out in a translation. New English Bible avoids this by using “its” with reference to Nineveh, and Good News Translation makes explicit the fact that “their” refers to its people. The literal rendering in Revised Standard Version suggests, as does the Hebrew, that God is watching from up in heaven what takes place down on earth.

I am aware may be rendered merely as “I have seen” or “I know.” Somewhat greater force may be expressed in some languages by inverting the subject and object, for example, “the wickedness of its people has struck my eyes.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Jonah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Jonah 1:2

1:2a

Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh: Nineveh is called a great city because it was very large and many people lived in it. It was so large that it took a person three days to walk through it (3:3). More than 120,000 people lived there (4:11).

Get up! Go to…Nineveh: In Hebrew this verse begins with two verbs qum and leḵ which literally mean “arise, go.” Some English versions retain the two verbs. For example:

Arise, go to Nineveh (Revised Standard Version)

However, when the verb qum is followed by another motion verb, many scholars believe that it has lost its literal meaning and that instead it signals the beginning of an action. In this case it may also signal the urgency of the action. In English versions, you will see this combination of verbs translated in three different ways:

(1) “Leave at once for Nineveh” (God’s Word) or “Go at once to Nineveh” (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, New Revised Standard Version). The translators of these versions express the force of qum by the words “at once.” Other ways of doing this in English would be to begin the verse “Start on your way” or “Get going.”

(2) The verb qum is not translated at all and the verse is translated as Go to…Nineveh (New International Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

(3) The verb qum is translated literally: “arise” or “get up” (Berean Standard Bible, King James Version, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Revised Standard Version).

The third option should be avoided because it gives the impression that the LORD was telling Jonah to do two things: “get up” and “go.” It is recommended that you follow one of the translation possibilities suggested in option 1.

1:2b

and preach against it: The rest of the story shows that what Jonah was told to speak was a message which condemned the people of Nineveh (Keil-Delitzsch, p. 389). Some translations make this explicit. For example:

cry out against it (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
go now and denounce it (Revised English Bible)
-or-
speak against it (Good News Translation)

it: This refers to the city of Nineveh. Although the text says that Jonah was to preach against “the city of Nineveh,” it meant that he was to preach against the people of the city because of the wicked way they were behaving.

1:2c

its wickedness: Here the wickedness and sinful behavior of the people of Nineveh is referred to as if the city were a person.

has come up before Me: Or “has come to my attention.” The LORD knew how very sinful the people of Nineveh were. Here is another way to express this idea:

I am aware of how wicked its people are (Good News Translation)

© 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.