divorce

In Ghari different words are used for a husband divorcing a wife and a wife divorcing a husband. (Source: David Clark)

In Mairasi the term that is used means “discard.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)

complete verse (Matthew 19:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 19:8:

  • Uma: “Yesus said: ‘Musa allowed you to divorce, because of your hard hearts [i.e., stubbornness], you are unteachable. But really, it was not like that from the beginning.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa said, ‘Because you are stubborn (lit. you do not want to follow teaching) that’s why Musa allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not like that.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘Moses allowed you to separate from your wives because you reject his teaching. However long ago when everything was created, God did not permit a married couple to divorce.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus also said, ‘Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your mind/thoughts, but God’s purpose at the first was different.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus again answered, saying, ‘Because of the hardness of your heads, that’s why Moises permitted you to divorce your wives. But the origin of it really wasn’t like that.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Jesus replied and said: ‘Moses gave permission to make out a paper of divorcement, but it was because the people were very tough in mind, therefore he gave it. But in the beginning that was not the way God had determined people should do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing religious leaders

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 religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.

The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).

In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

Even at the time of his translation, Jerome likely was not the only one making that decision as this article alludes to (see also Moses as Pharaoh’s Equal — Horns and All ).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

See also Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Honorary are / rare constructs denoting God (“say”)

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 show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Matthew 19:8

Jesus does agree that Moses permitted divorce. But he makes two significant observations regarding the ruling that Moses made: (1) divorce was a concession which resulted from the rebellious attitude of the Jewish people, and (2) it is contrary to God’s original intention in creation. This second observation would have carried much weight, since Jewish teachers affirmed that when two passages of Scripture were in conflict, the earlier passage was to be regarded as superior. This would mean that the law of divorce which Moses introduced was made invalid by the prior law of creation.

He said to them: both Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch specifically identify He as Jesus.

Your hardness of heart, a noun phrase in Greek, is transformed into a full clause in Good News Translation: (“because you are so hard to teach”) and Jerusalem Bible (“It was because you were so unteachable”). New International Version, though retaining the figure of speech, also shifts away from a noun phrase: “because your hearts were hard.” In English the heart is considered to be the organ which controls the emotions, while in Jewish thought it was related to the rational side of the human being. Therefore New English Bible translates “because your minds were closed,” and New American Bible “Because of your stubbornness.”

There are many languages where the phrase Moses allowed you to divorce will more naturally come at the beginning of Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, as it is in Good News Translation: “Moses gave you permission to divorce your wives because you are so hard to teach.” Another way to structure the sentence is “You refused to pay attention to God’s teaching, so Moses let you get divorces from your wives.”

Your and you are plural forms. Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees who were there, of course, but the context indicates that he was referring to the Jewish people in general when he said “you.” Some translators have said “you people.”

But from the beginning it was not so is translated by Good News Translation as “But it was not like that at the time of creation.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “But it was originally not so.” One may also translate “But it was not that way at the time that God first created man and woman” or “But that was not the way things were at the beginning.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

formal second person plural pronoun

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 show 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. )