complete verse (Psalm 50:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 50:20:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “All the times you speak in opposition against your relative
    and you slander a child of your own mother.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “You talk against your own brothers,
    You tell lies about your own mother’s sons.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “You (plur.) always say-bad-things to/about your (plur.) siblings.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “You lie to your brother,
    then you insult the son of your mother.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Unakaa na kumsengenya ndugu yako,
    ambaye mko mama mmoja, unamuongopea.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “You are always accusing members of your own family of doing wrong,
    and slandering them.” (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 Psalm 50:19 - 50:20

God continues his accusation of the wicked: they are guilty of lies, deceit, and slander–all kinds of “sins of the tongue.” In verse 19a the text is literally “you send off your mouth with evil,” which is strangely like the American slang expression “to shoot off the mouth.”

In verse 19b the verb frames is “to join to, attach to,” which New English Bible and New International Version render “harness to” and New Jerusalem Bible “yoke to”–not very successful attempts in English at vividness. New Jerusalem Bible is better, “your tongue (is devoted to) inventing lies.”

You sit and speak (verse 20a) seems to imply a deliberate, premeditated slander, not just one spoken in the heat of anger. It can mean to sit as a judge with others, to hear complaints and accusations that are brought to them for judgment. New Jerusalem Bible has “you are busy maligning…,” and New English Bible “You are for ever talking against….”

In verse 20a brother could be a fellow Jew; but the parallel in line b makes it probable that the word is meant in the more restricted sense. The two lines, then, may be closely synonymous. But Bible en français courant translates the first line “your neighbor” and the second line “your own brother.”

In English your own mother’s son (also New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) in line b is not a natural expression; it would be better to use a personal pronoun. The verbal phrase translated slander (Good News Translation “to find fault”) uses a noun for “blemish” or “fault” that occurs only here in the Old Testament. New English Bible translates “stabbing … in the back,” a vivid, idiomatic phrase in English. Line b steps up the intensity by the use of slander, and the two lines may be translated, for example, “You not only say bad things about your own brother, you go so far as to slander him.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .