Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 78:25:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“People ate the bread of angels,
He sent them all the food that they could manage to eat.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“In this way they ate the bread of angels,
He gave them as much food as they could eat.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“These people ate the food of angels, and God let- them -have-as-much- of this -as-they-wanted.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“People came to eat the bread of angels,
He sent them all the food which be enough for them to eat.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Watu wakala chakula ambacho wanakula malaika,
akawapa cha kuwatosha.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“So the people ate the food that angels eat, and God gave to them all the manna that they wanted.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is 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, oku-rare-ru (送られる) or “send” is used.
Exodus 16.13b-15 and Numbers 11.7-9 describe the sending of manna to the people in the wilderness.
In verse 23a instead of the skies above the meaning may be “the clouds above” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible; Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy have “the clouds”). The word above can be misunderstood to mean “above God,” so it may be well not to represent it formally in translation. The skies above refers to the sky above the people, not above God.
Only here (verse 23b) is there a reference to the doors of heaven; elsewhere “gate” or “windows” are spoken of. The passage says literally he … opened the doors of heaven; this is probably to be taken with line a to mean that God ordered the doors to be opened. Most translations, however, have two different actions in verse 23, an oral command in line a and the action of opening the doors in line b. The translator will have to determine to what extent it is possible to apply the figurative language opened the doors of heaven. Where such a metaphor creates misunderstanding, nonmetaphorical language will have to be used; for example, “he ordered the sky to open,” or with a simile, “he commanded the sky to open like a door.”
Part of verse 23, as translated by the Septuagint, is quoted in John 6.31.
In verse 24 Good News Translation has reversed the order of the two lines for greater ease of understanding. “Sending down” in verse 24b is literally he rained down (as in verse 27a). The Hebrew word for manna is man; in Exodus 16.15 the people ask: “What is it?” (man-hu)–and it appears that this is the origin of the name. Again the two lines of verse 24 should not appear to refer to two different things. Most translations transliterate the term manna, or adapt it in some other way, if the resultant transliteration may be confused with a word in the receptor language. It may be useful to provide an explanatory footnote for manna.
In verse 25a the Hebrew is Man ate, which may mean “they ate” (Good News Translation), or “each one ate” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), that is, everyone there ate. Or else it may emphasize that mere human beings ate the bread of the angels; so New Jerusalem Bible “mere mortals.”
The word translated angels is literally “strong ones”; most take the word to refer to heavenly beings (so the Septuagint translates “bread of angels”; and see in 103.20b where this same word is parallel with “angels” in verse 20a). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “the Strong Ones,” with a footnote explaining that this means the powers who unite to form the heavenly court; New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible translate “the Mighty,” explaining in a footnote that they are angels. New Jerusalem Bible has “Each man ate a hero’s meal,” which is quite unlikely. If the translator follows Good News Translation or Revised Standard Versionbread of the angels, in many languages where bread is not used, the common local food should be substituted, or a generic term for food. Whether the translator translates angels or follows one of the other suggestions, the main concern will be to avoid giving the reader the impression that the people were given the food that the angels were intending to eat. This may be done by saying, for example, “they ate the same kind of food that the angels eat,” or if the translator follows the interpretation which contrasts mortals with angels, it may be possible to say, for example, “ordinary people ate the same kind of food that angels eat.”
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 .
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