The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 18:24:
Kupsabiny: “Do not let those matters spoil/defile you (plur.) because that is this way the communities of this country defiled themselves those that I am chasing away so I can give it to you (plur.).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “’you must not have made yourselves defiled by such behavior [lit.: work], for [it was] by [just] this kind of behavior all the nations that I am about to drive out became unclean. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] do- not -dirty/make-unclean yourselves (plur.)/[lit. your (plur.) own selves] by doing any of these things, for this (is) what has-caused-to-be-dirty/to-be-unclean the people who I have-caused-to-leave the land which (is) for you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘o not defile yourselves/cause yourselves to become unacceptable to me in any of those ways, because doing those things is how the people of the nations that I expelled as you advanced became unacceptable to me/defiled.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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).
Defile yourselves: that is, make yourselves ritually unclean.
Any of these things: or “by committing any of these forbidden acts,” or “by violating any of these sexual prohibitions” [in the previous verses].
The nations: this term may be translated “heathen” (New English Bible) or “pagans” (Good News Translation). While it is literally rendered nations, it refers to those other nations who were not considered the people of God. Lists of these people are given in Genesis 15.19-21 and Deuteronomy 7.1. In this context it is possible to translate it as “those who are not my [the LORD’s] people.” The word is also used in 25.44; 26.33, 38, 45.
I: or “the LORD,” if indirect discourse is being used.
Am casting out before you: this implies that these people had been living in the land previously and that they will be removed so that the people of Israel may go in.
Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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