complete verse (Psalm 89:31)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 89:31:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “if they will break my laws
    and fail to keep my teachings,” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “If they transgress my law,
    If they do not observe my commands,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “But if his descendants will- not -obey/follow my laws, statutes/[lit. what-is-to-be-followed], and teachings,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “if they do not hear my words,
    and they do not obey my commands,” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “iwapo wazidharau sheria zangu,
    iwapo hawashiki maagizo yangu,” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “if they disregard my requirements
    and do not do the right things that I have told them to do,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

law

The Greek, Hebrew, and Ge’ez that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

In a 1922 translation into Chagatai, a precursor language of both Uzbek and Uighur, it is translated with the Arabic loan word shari’at (شريعت), originally meaning “(Islamic) law (Shari’a).” (Source: F. Erbay and F.N. Küçükballı in Acta Theologica 2025 45/2, p. 133ff. )

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Psalm 89:30 - 89:32

Yahweh warns that he will punish any disobedience on the part of David’s descendants (his children, verse 30), but their sins will not cancel the promise he made to David, that his dynasty would always continue to reign over Israel.

Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation render verses 30-32 as one sentence, which in some languages may be too long. In that case each verse can be rendered as a separate sentence; for example, “30 It may be that his descendants will … commands. 31 Or it may be that they will … commandments. 32 If that happens, I will….”

In verses 30-31 four synonymous terms are used: law, ordinances, statutes, commandments (see similar list in 19.7-9). All of these are the laws that are part of the covenant between God and his people. In verse 30b the verb walk means, as it often does, to conduct oneself, to live. Verses 30-31 are two conditions followed in verses 32-37 by continued promises. With verse 30 the psalmist shifts to a chiastic arrangement, which here serves the function of grasping the reader’s attention. The translator should not simply employ a Hebrew chiasmus, but whatever device in the receptor language which serves an equivalent function. By contrast with verse 30, in verse 31 both lines follow the same word order. The first line of verses 30 and 31 is positive, while the second line in each verse is negative. The second line does not go beyond the first line in terms of heightening the poetic effect. It merely restates it in a negative way. How the translator handles these two verses will depend largely on the effect of combining positive and negative conditions. It is possible that the two lines will have to be reduced to one.

In verse 31 violate translates a verb that usually means “to profane, to desecrate”; see in 55.20b its use with a covenant as the object, and 74.7b with the Temple as the object (“desecrated”); and see verse 34 below.

In verse 32, for the word translated transgression see 19.13; and for iniquity see 51.2. The rod and scourges are figures for harsh punishment (see 2 Sam 7.14); Biblia Dios Habla Hoy shortens and combines the two lines into one: “I will punish their rebellion and wrongdoing with lashes of a cane.” The rod was probably a straight, pliable stick, chosen and prepared to serve as a cane for whipping people; scourges are to be thought of as flexible whips made of vines or ropes. If the figurative language is to be kept, as well as the two lines, the following may be said:

• I will beat them on account of their sins,
I will whip them because of their wrongdoing.

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 .