complete verse (Numbers 22:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 22:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “Balaam answered those people, ‘Stay overnight, and tomorrow when it dawns, I shall tell you what God is going to tell me.’ The leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Balaam said to them, "Stay here tonight, then just as the LORD speaks to me, that word I will tell you." Since it was like that, the emissaries of the Moabite king took shelter with him.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And Balaam said to them, ‘You (plur.) just sleep here tonight, and I will-tell you (plur.) tomorrow if what the LORD will-say to me.’ So the leaders/[lit. heads] of Moab slept there.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Balaam said, ‘Stay here tonight. Tomorrow morning I will tell you whatever Yahweh tells me that I should say to you.’
    So the leaders from Moab stayed there that night.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 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 Numbers 22:8

And he said to them: The pronoun he refers to Balaam, which Good News Bible makes clear.

Lodge here this night: Many languages will have an idiomatic way of expressing this clause; for example, Chewa says “Lie down right here today,” which implies night. The translation should not imply that some special building was located there in which visitors would lodge. So Good News Bible says “Spend the night here.”

And I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me: Here Balaam indicates that he will receive a message from the LORD in a dream during the night. The Deir ʿAlla inscription contains the following line: “The gods came to him during the night,” which is the time when diviners and prophets normally receive their perceptive or predictive messages. New Revised Standard Version renders as the LORD speaks to me as “just as the LORD speaks to me,” which is more accurate. In this section Balaam normally uses the covenant name of Israel’s God, the LORD (YHWH in Hebrew), but the narrator uses “God” (ʾelohim in Hebrew) to refer to his instructions to Balaam (see verse 9). These distinctions should be preserved in the translation. It may be that Balaam felt that he would somehow have to use the personal name of Israel’s deity in order to effectively put a curse upon them. Helpful models here are “and I will bring you back the answer the LORD gives me” (New International Version), “and tomorrow I will report to you whatever the LORD tells me” (Good News Bible), and “In the morning I will tell you whatever the LORD directs me to say” (New Living Translation).

So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam: The Midianites are no longer mentioned in the Balaam story, which may indicate that the Moabites were more important, or simply that the narrator wishes to get them “off stage” in order to concentrate on the people who are central to his account. For the Hebrew word rendered princes (sar), see 21.18. Here New Jewish Publication Society Version says “dignitaries.”

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 .

Translation commentary on Numbers 22:8

And he said to them: The pronoun he refers to Balaam, which Good News Bible makes clear.

Lodge here this night: Many languages will have an idiomatic way of expressing this clause; for example, Chewa says “Lie down right here today,” which implies night. The translation should not imply that some special building was located there in which visitors would lodge. So Good News Bible says “Spend the night here.”

And I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me: Here Balaam indicates that he will receive a message from the LORD in a dream during the night. The Deir ʿAlla inscription contains the following line: “The gods came to him during the night,” which is the time when diviners and prophets normally receive their perceptive or predictive messages. New Revised Standard Version renders as the LORD speaks to me as “just as the LORD speaks to me,” which is more accurate. In this section Balaam normally uses the covenant name of Israel’s God, the LORD (YHWH in Hebrew), but the narrator uses “God” (ʾelohim in Hebrew) to refer to his instructions to Balaam (see verse 9). These distinctions should be preserved in the translation. It may be that Balaam felt that he would somehow have to use the personal name of Israel’s deity in order to effectively put a curse upon them. Helpful models here are “and I will bring you back the answer the LORD gives me” (New International Version), “and tomorrow I will report to you whatever the LORD tells me” (Good News Bible), and “In the morning I will tell you whatever the LORD directs me to say” (New Living Translation).

So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam: The Midianites are no longer mentioned in the Balaam story, which may indicate that the Moabites were more important, or simply that the narrator wishes to get them “off stage” in order to concentrate on the people who are central to his account. For the Hebrew word rendered princes (sar), see 21.18. Here New Jewish Publication Society Version says “dignitaries.”

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 .