know someone (have sexual relations)

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated by some English translations with the euphemism “to know someone” and by others as “be intimate with someone” or “have sexual relations with someone” is translated in Cherokee as “becoming wise” or “becoming experienced.” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 30)

In Tongan, it is translated as fe’iloaki which “is generally reserved for sexual intimacy bearing the traditional cultural notion of “meeting to make a home.” Source: Ma’afu Palu in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 240ff.)

complete verse (Numbers 31:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 31:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “Leave the girls who are still virgins to become yours.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “But as for all the virgin women, allowing them to live, keep them for yourselves.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But you (plur.) save for yourselves the women who have- not -slept yet with a man.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Spare only the girls who are virgins. You can keep them to be your wives or your slaves.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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. )