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 Matthew 26:31

Then translates the same particle that Matthew uses ninety times throughout his Gospel.

Translators who have a section heading before this verse will sometimes feel they need to make the connection with the previous passage stronger than with Then. “When they reached the Mount of Olives” is one way to do this.

It may be useful to identify them as “the disciples,” especially if this was not done in verse 30.

You will all (Good News Translation “all of you”) is emphatic in the Greek sentence structure even more so than in Mark, who does give some emphasis by including the pronoun you as a separate form apart from the verb itself.

Fall away (Good News Translation “run away and leave”) translates the verb rendered “causes … to sin” in 5.29; see comment there. In this verse many translators use expressions such as “abandon me” or “lose your faith in me.”

Because of me, not found in the Marcan parallel (14.27), represents another unique Matthean emphasis. The meaning seems to be that what is going to happen to Jesus will cause all of the disciples to lose their faith. Therefore one good way to render the sentence is “Because of what will happen to me, tonight every one of you will give up your faith in me.”

This night is not found in the Marcan parallel, though it does occur in the parallel to verse 34 (Mark 14.30). Quite often “tonight” is the natural expression to use. It modifies fall away, not because of me.

For it is written (Good News Translation “for the scripture says”) translates the same formula used in 2.5 (see comments there); its last occurrence was in verse 24 of the present chapter. The Scripture reference is to Zechariah 13.7, and the form of the quotation in Matthew differs slightly from that in Mark. Matthew has a different word order and adds the phrase of the flock, which is not found in Mark. But these differences are of no real substance, since the sheep of the flock is best understood as a stylistic variation of “the sheep” in Mark (14.27).

In the words of one commentator, the use of the first person future (I will strike) “suggests that it is God who will smite Jesus, with the result that ‘the flock’ (the band of disciples) will be dispersed.” Accordingly, strike must be given the extended meaning of “strike … down” (New English Bible) or “kill” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant), and the subject identified as God: “God will kill.” For translators who render it is written with a phrase such as “God’s writing” or “God has written,” then the fact that it is he who strikes may already be clear: “as it says in God’s writings, ‘I will strike.’ ”

Will be scattered may require transformation into an active form to balance with the first verb: “I will kill the shepherd and scatter the sheep of the flock” or “… and the sheep of his flock will scatter.”

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 .