complete verse (Obadiah 1:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Obadiah 1:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “Fear will take hold of you and you will be destroyed forever on account of the cruelty that you did to your brother Jacob.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Because you have killed your brother Jacob violently,
    you will not be able to show your face out of shame,
    You will be destroyed forever.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Because of the violence that you (plur.) did to the descendants of Jacob, your (plur.) blood-relatives, you (plur.) will-be-put-to-shame and be-destroyed forever/[lit. until whenever].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You acted cruel in a cruel way toward your relatives who are descendants of Jacob, the twin brother of your ancestor Esau.
    So now you will be disgraced forever; you will be completely destroyed.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Obadiah 1:10

Verse 10 is the first place where a reason is given for all of the things that God will do in verses 1-9. Therefore it may be good in some languages to make the connection clearer. This can be done by starting verse 10 with an extra line saying “All of this will happen because you robbed and killed…” or “I will punish you because….” If this is done, then the second part of the verse will have to be a separate statement, mentioning again how God will punish them, but this should not cause problems for most translators.

In place of the nouns of Revised Standard Version that really represent events, “slaughter” (from verse 9) and “violence,” Good News Translation uses verbs and makes the subject explicit as you. Thus the opening clause becomes Because you robbed and killed your brothers.

The people of Edom and the people of Judah were called brothers because they were descendants of Esau and his twin brother Jacob respectively. Good News Translation helps to make this clearer by expanding the simple “Jacob” of the Hebrew and Revised Standard Version to the descendants of Jacob. Many translators will need to do the same.

In many languages it is quite natural to call people brothers if they are descendants from a brother of one’s own ancestors. In other languages there may be a different term for this type of relationship, and the appropriate term should be used here. The important thing in this passage is the assumption that people who are related in this way should help each other in times of trouble. If this idea will not be automatically implied by the term used in a language, the translator should perhaps make it explicit and say something like “they were your relatives, and therefore you should have helped them.”

In the second part of the verse, two consequences of Edom’s actions are mentioned in clauses with different subjects, “shame shall cover you” and “you shall be cut off” (Revised Standard Version). Good News Translation has made the Edomites the subject of both verbs by saying you will be destroyed and dishonored forever. It is not clear why Good News Translation has changed the order of the two verbs, and there is no need for translators to do so unless this will be better style in their own languages. The dishonor (Revised Standard Version “shame”) that will come upon Edom is a just reward for their dishonorable conduct against Judah. The Edomite conduct was considered dishonorable because the peoples of Edom and Judah were brothers. Such a relationship should have prevented the Edomites from behaving as they did. Failure to respect blood relationships was considered particularly disgraceful in the ancient world.

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on the Book of Obadiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .