Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Moses.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 32:25:
Kupsabiny: “The clans of Gad and Reuben said, ‘Sir, we shall do as you have told us.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then the Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, "We your servants will do just as you have ordered.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The tribes of Gad and Ruben replied to Moises, ‘Sir, we (excl.) will-obey your (plur.) commands.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The leaders of the tribes of Gad and Reuben replied, ‘We will do what you have asked us to do , because you are our leader.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
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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 humbling plural suffix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, the Hebrew and Aramaic that is translated as “servants” in English is translated as shimobe-domo (しもべども) or shimobe-ra (しもべら), combining “servant” (shimobe with the humbling plural suffix -domo or ra.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, meiji-rare-ru (命じられる) or “order/command” is used.
And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses: A new paragraph may begin here (so Good News Translation), and the conjunction And may be rendered “Now then” (Chewa) or “Then” (New Revised Standard Version). Good News Translation renders the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben as “The men of Gad and Reuben,” but in some languages it may be better to say “the leaders of Gad and Reuben” (see verse 2).
Your servants will do as my lord commands: For your servants, see verse 4. Good News Translation replaces this phrase with the pronoun “we,” which is not helpful. It is better say “We, your servants” (New Living Translation, Nueva Traducción Viviente) to express the speakers’ deference. Another model that expresses it begins this clause with “We will obey and do….” The deferential title my lord refers to Moses (see 11.28). The Gadites and Reubenites use the singular pronoun my, which refers to themselves, to indicate that they are speaking “with one voice.” In languages where this singular pronoun will not be natural, translators may render my lord as “Sir” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), “our lord” (Contemporary Russian Version) or even “their lord” (which is in the third person like your servants). This expression of deference is essential at the end of the negotiation process, marking the formal ratification of the covenant (so Ashley, page 613; Cole, page 512). There is no reason to omit it (so Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In some languages a rendering such as “you, our lord/master” will be natural and will express the speakers’ deference at the same time. For this whole clause New Century Version has “We are your servants, and we will do what you, our master, command.”
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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