The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “justice” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that describes the quality or principle of fairness, righteousness, and impartiality in treating other people. A literal back-translation of the signs are “FOLLOW(God is implied) ACTIONS, DECISIONS JUST-RIGHT”. A more idiomatic back-translation would be: “actions and decisions are right/fitting/just in accordance to God’s will.” The movement in the signs itself helps to indicate that this is a noun, not a verb. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Justice” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Micah 3:9:
Kupsabiny: “Listen to these words you people who rule Israel. Listen, please you leaders of the stomach of Jacob You are refusing to do the truth/justice and you hate the matters of truth/justice.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Oh, leaders of the House of Jacob, oh the rulers of the House of Israel, oh you who hate justice and who twist the right into wrong! Listen well to this message!” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘You (plur.) leaders/[lit. heads] of Israel and of Juda, [you (plur.)] listen! You (plur.) despise/hate justice and distort/[lit. make-crooked] what (is) right.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “You leaders of the people of Israel, listen to this! You hate it when people do what is just; and when people say what is true, you distort it, saying it is false.” (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 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).
The opening part of verse 9 is almost identical with the parallel part of verse 1. Here the verb Listen has an object, “this,” which is absent in verse 1, and here, too, “house” is applied to both Jacob and Israel, whereas it is applied only to Israel in verse 1. There is no significant difference in meaning, however, and the double name is rendered in Good News Translation exactly as in verse 1 with the single expression you rulers of Israel. Translators should try to keep the beginning of verse 9 as similar as possible to the beginning of verse 1, as a small clue to the structure of this chapter.
The latter part of verse 9 repeats the general meaning of the opening part of verse 2, but in even stronger terms. The rulers of the nation do not merely hate the good and love the evil; they actually hate justice and turn right into wrong. Justice is both a reflection of the character of the Lord and the foundation of a stable society. By their attitudes and actions the rulers were really undermining the whole social structure of the nation and their own position within it. Hate justice might be translated as “hate to do what is right.” They are not content with bending the Law in their own interest, but by turning right into wrong they openly defy the Law’s most basic provisions. For similar expressions from other prophets, see Isa 5.20 and Amos 6.12. Turn right into wrong can be translated as “you act as though evil actions are good.” In some languages a figure of speech may be effective here, such as “you take what is straight and twist it.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on Micah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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