10Also on your days of rejoicing, at your appointed festivals, and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over your sacrifices of well-being; they shall serve as a reminder on your behalf before the Lord your God: I am the Lord your God.”
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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).
On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts, and at the beginnings of your months …: On the day of your gladness refers to any joyous time, not just one particular happy day, so Good News Translation says “on joyful occasions.” The first Hebrew waw connector rendered and is probably explicative, so both at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months refer to the times of joy. This connector may be rendered “that is [to say].” Good News Translation uses two parenthetical dash markers around these two phrases. It also reverses their order by saying “at your New Moon Festivals and your other religious festivals.” The appointed feasts refer to the “annual festivals” (New Living Translation) that God instructed the Israelites to celebrate. These festivals included the Passover (28.16-25), the Harvest Festival (28.26-31), the New Year Festival (29.1-6), the Day of Atonement (29.7-11), and the Festival of Shelters (29.12-38). The beginnings of your months refers to the monthly “New Moon Festivals” (Good News Translation). This festival was held on the day of the new moon, the day when only a thin edge of the moon can be seen. This day was always the first day of the month in the Hebrew calendar. Instructions for this day are given in 28.11-15.
You shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings: The trumpets had to be blown at these festivals while the people offered sacrifices. Blow the trumpets has the same sense as in verses 3-4 and 7-8 (see the comments there). For burnt offerings, see 6.11; for peace offerings, see 6.14.
They shall serve you for remembrance before your God: This clause begins with the Hebrew waw conjunction, which may be rendered “Then” (Good News Translation) to introduce the result of blowing the trumpets. The pronoun they refers to the trumpets. The Hebrew word for remembrance may be translated “reminder” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “memorial” (New International Version). Are the trumpets a reminder to the people or to God? After verse 9, the second interpretation is the more likely. Revised English Bible follows this interpretation by rendering this clause as “the trumpets will be a reminder on your behalf before your God” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Bijbel in Gewone Taal is similar with “Then I will be reminded of you.” Some languages may need to specify the purpose for the reminder by saying “Then I will remember to help you” or “Then I will remember your need/distress.” Good News Translation says simply “Then I will help you.” Good News Translation uses the first person to refer to God since he is speaking.
I am the LORD your God: This divine disclosure (or self-identification) formula marks the end of the large discourse unit that concludes at this point (7.1–10.10). This important formula occurs elsewhere in the legislative material of the Pentateuch (for example, Exo 6.2; 16.12; 20.2; 29.46; Lev 11.44; 18.2; 25.17) and should be translated consistently on each occasion. It may be rendered “I am the LORD, the God whom you worship.”
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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