Japanese benefactives (natte)

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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

Here, natte (なって) or “become” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Psalm 80:14 - 80:15

The psalmist, still using the language of the allegory of the grapevine, prays for God to save his people. In verse 14a the Hebrew is simply “turn” (without an object); this may mean “relent.” Verse 14c in Hebrew is “and visit this grapevine”; for “visit” see comments on “care for” in 8.4b. Good News Translation does not use the figure this vine in verse 14c, but “your people.”

In verse 15a Good News Translation repeats “Come and save” for emphasis and clarity. “This grapevine” (Revised Standard Version the stock) translates a word found only here in the Old Testament; it is variously translated “sapling” (Weiser), “stock” (New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible), or else as a verbal phrase, “what (your right hand) has planted” (so New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Dahood). In any case, it refers to the grapevine. If the translator has had to avoid the analogy of the grapevine from verse 8, it will be necessary to continue in that manner through 16a. Good News Translation provides the substitute “your people” in this verse and returns to the grapevine in verse 15a. If the vine is to be avoided, verse 15 (including Revised Standard Version footnote) may be rendered:

• Come and save your people whom you have placed here
and made into a strong nation.

Verse 15b in the Masoretic text is similar to verse 17b; it reads “upon the son you made strong” (see Revised Standard Version footnote; verse 17b is “upon the son of man you made strong”). Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, and New Jerusalem Bible omit it as an accidental repetition of verse 17b (so Oesterley, Anderson). Dahood takes “son” here to be the king (see Traduction œcuménique de la Bible footnote); Weiser takes it to represent the people. But the word “son” is also used in connection with a plant (see Gen 49.22), and Good News Translation “this young vine” takes it to be still another reference to the grapevine (see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “sprout”; New Jerusalem Bible “the stem”; Kirkpatrick, Cohen, King James Version).14-15 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recognizes that “this expression is secondary in its present position,” but there is no textual basis for omitting it. It interprets “the son” to mean “the sprout.” It is recommended that translators follow Good News Translation here.

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 .