complete verse (Leviticus 18:25)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 18:25:

  • Kupsabiny: “People defiled that land because of those matters, and/but then I have punished the land for those sins and made the land vomit out those people who lived there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Even their land has become unclean. So I punished them for their sins, and that land, by vomiting, drove out its people.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And so even-if that land has-became-dirty/has-become-unclean because-of what they do, so I have-sent calamities to that land so-that by-means- of this they will-(all)-leave there. But you (plur.) Israelinhon and the foreigners who (are) living with you (plur.), you (plur.) must- not -do those detestable/abominable things but-instead you (plur.) obey my rules/regulations/[lit. what-is-to-be-followed] and commands. For if you (plur.) also make- the land -dirty/unclean by doing those things, you (plur.) will- also -be-caused-to-leave from that land just-like the people before you (plur.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They even caused the land to become defiled, so I punished them for their sins, and it was as though the land vomited out the people who lived there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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”.

Translation commentary on Leviticus 18:25

The land became defiled: the unacceptable behavior of the people who lived in the land made the land itself unacceptable or ritually unclean in the sight of God.

Punished its iniquity: that is, the iniquity of the land. But it is the people who lived in the land who were ultimately responsible for the iniquity. So in some languages it may be necessary to say “I will punish the land because of the terrible sins committed by the people who lived there.”

Vomited out its inhabitants: the verb used here is an image which suggests a violent rejection. In most languages, however, a literal rendering will be very unnatural. Some other possibilities are “reject” (Good News Translation), “expel,” “refuse,” or “repudiate.” The translation is further complicated by the fact that the word land is used as the subject of the verb. The ultimate agent is, however, the LORD himself. In some cases translators may have to say something like “I am rejecting them from the land.” If the vivid image of the text is to be retained, one may even add “… as a person vomits up bad food.”

I: or “the LORD,” if indirect speech is being used.

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 .