cattle, livestock

The Hebrew that is translated in English as “livestock” (or “cattle”) is translated in Newari as “living beings brought up in a house” or “living beings cared for in a house” (source: Newari Back Translation). Specifically “cattle” is “cows and oxen.”

In Kwere it is “animals that are being kept.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

wild animal

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “wild animal” or similar is translated in Newari as “animal that lives in the jungle.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)

complete verse (Leviticus 26:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 26:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “I shall send fierce animals to kill your children and your animals and sweep away people so that a remainder shall remain with the roads being desolate.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then I will send wild [lit.: forest] animals into your midst. They will eat your children. And they will kill your cattle [lit.: domesticated animals]. Your numbers will be greatly reduced. There will be no people on your roads.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-send you (plur.) cruel/(dangerous) animals and they will-kill your (plur.) children and animals/livestock, and because of-this only a few of you (plur.) will-remain in a way that will-seem-like no-one is-walking on your (plur.) roads.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will send wild animals to attack you, and they will kill your little children and destroy your cattle. There will be very few of you who will remain alive, with the result that there will be very few people walking on the roads in your country.” (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”.

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 Leviticus 26:22

Let loose the wild beasts: this is the opposite of what is promised for obedience in the previous passage. Although the words are not identical, wild beasts here corresponds to “evil beasts” in verse 6.

Rob you of your children: or “make you childless.” New Jerusalem Bible has “bereave you of your children.” A literal translation of the verb rob may seem to hold out some hope to the children being recovered, but the meaning is clearly “destroy” or “kill,” so that the people have no descendants.

Destroy your cattle: as in 19.19 this may be taken to refer to all domestic animals. New American Bible translates “wipe out your livestock.”

So that your ways shall become desolate: the result of the reduced population will be that there will be scarcely anyone traveling on the roads. They will be deserted.

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 .