16Therefore, thus says the Lord: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.
The Hebrew, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is typically as “compassion” in English (“compassion” comes from the Latincompatior and means suffering with) is translated in various ways:
Shilluk´: “cries in the soul” (source: Nida, 1952, p. 132)
The Hebrew that is translated as “Lord of hosts” in English (or: “Yahweh of Armies” [translation by John Goldingay, 2018], “Hashem, Master of Legions” [ArtScroll Tanach translation, 2011]) is translated in various ways:
Kankanaey: “God the Highest Ruler” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: Lord Almighty” (source: Newari Back Translation)
Kutu: Mndewa Imulungu or “Lord with all power” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Mandarin Chinese: Wànjūnzhī Yēhéhuá / Shàngzhǔ (万军之耶和华 / 上主) or “Jehovah / Lord of 10,000 [=all] armies”
Mandinka: “Yawe God of the universe” (source: Rob Koops)
German (Luther) Bible the second part of the name is transliterated: Herr Zebaoth or “Lord Zebaoth” (Swedish, Finnish and Latvian use the same translation strategy). The Russian Orthodox Synod translation uses a transliteration of the second part of the designation as well: Господь Саваоф / Gospod’ Savaof.
The traditional French translation of l’Eternel/Yahve/le Seigneur/Seigneur des armées (“Lord of the armies”) presents a problem when listened to, as Jean-Marc Babut explains (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 411ff. ):
“For the hearer, the traditional translation l’Eternel/Yahvé/le Seigneur des armées can easily be taken in a bad sense: there is nothing, in fact, to prevent the listener from hearing l’Eternel désarmé, ‘the Eternal One disarmed’ or ‘stripped of his power’! (…). Thus the Bible en français courant [publ. 1997] has decided to use the expression Seigneur/Dieu de l’univers, “Lord/God of the Universe”. This formula, which has an undeniably liturgical ring, seems to have been favorably received by users.”
Other, later French Bibles who have chosen a similar strategy, include Parole de Vie (publ. 2017) with Seigneur de l’univers or Bible Segond 21 (publ. 2007) with l’Eternel, le maître de l’univers.
The English that is translated as “says the Lord” or “says the Lord God” is translated in some influential French translations as oracle de Yahvé (La Bible de Jérusalem) oracle du Seigneur (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), and oracle de l’Éternel (Nouvelle Version Segond Révisée 1978) or “oracle (authoritative statement) of YHWH (or: the Lord).”
Timothy Lloyd Wilt (in The Bible Translator 1999, p. 301ff. ) describes the Hebrew ne’um (adonay) YHWH (quoting S. Meier, 1992) as “a highly marked expression (…) Hebrew does not characteristically repunctuate quoted discourse with reminders of the quote’s source, making this particle’s function quite distinctive and certainly unique in its frequency and distribution.”
The French translations above are emulating this with their distinct wording containing the French oracle.
Similarly, the French translation by Chouraqui uses harangue de or “harangue (or: ‘sermon’) of YHWH” and the English translation by Fox uses Utterance of YHWH. Both of these translations are Jewish translations that attempt to emulate the Hebraic nature of the original text. (Source: Drew Maust) Likewise, the translation by Goldingay (2018) has Yahweh’s declaration, typically set in parentheses: (Yahweh’s declaration).
The translation into Kera marks this by using the equivalent of “the words of me, YHWH” (source: Jackie Hainaut) and a language in West Africa, belonging to the Mande language family, uses a honorific form of “say,” that is only used for speech from God or his prophets. Both of these languages are spoken in francophone Africa.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Zechariah 1:16:
Kupsabiny: “So, I God is saying, that I will have compassion with Jerusalem. My House shall be built there for me to be renewed and also Jerusalem shall be built and renewed.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “So I have returned to Jerusalem to show my compassion. My temple will again be built, the measuring rope will be stretched out over Jerusalem and the city will be rebuilt says the LORD Almighty.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Therefore I will-come-back/return to Jerusalem with mercy, and I will-rebuild/[lit. -cause-to-stand] again this city including my temple.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Therefore, this is what he says: ‘I will again be merciful to the people of Jerusalem, and they will rebuild my temple. Men will measure all the land in the city before they start rebuilding the houses.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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.
Therefore, thus says the LORD: The word Therefore (Good News Translation “So”) links the statements and promises of this verse with the reasoning in verses 14 and 15. In Hebrew the expressions thus says the LORD and says the LORD of hosts both occur in this verse. The first is a fourth degree quotation introducing a fifth degree quotation, as explained in the introduction to 1.14-17. The second marks the climax of the fifth degree quotation. Since the beginning of the verse is a continuation of the message in verses 14 and 15, Good News Translation does not interrupt it by repeating these quotation formulas. Translators may include or omit the formulas as best fits the pattern of their language, but they should be aware of their discourse significance in the Hebrew.
I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion: The LORD had originally chosen Jerusalem, and his temporary punishment of its people did not cancel this choice. Therefore he shows kindness to his people again at the right time. The word returned is the same word in Hebrew as that translated “return” in verse 3 and “repented” in verse 6. To speak of the LORD coming back to Jerusalem would have reminded Zechariah’s hearers or readers of the vision of Ezekiel (Ezek 43.1-5). The word translated with compassion is a form of the same root that occurred in the question in verse 12, where it was translated “have … mercy.” These verbal links help to hold the Hebrew text together in a way that is often unavoidably lost in translation. The Septuagint and some modern versions such as New International Version translate the verb return as a future, but this is not a good idea as it reduces the strength of the encouragement in the message.
My house shall be built in it: The LORD’s return is here said to involve two particular forms of blessing. The first is that my house shall be built in it, or as Good News Translation says, “My Temple will be restored.” In these words Zechariah encourages the people with the assurance that the work recently begun under the ministry of Haggai (Hag 1.12-15) will be brought to a successful conclusion. In languages that do not use the passive, translators may render this clause as Contemporary English Version does with “my temple will stand again,” or they may use “The people [or, They] will rebuild my Temple [or, my house].”
The second aspect of blessing is that the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. This refers to the work of a surveyor on the site before the actual building begins. Since the meaning of the action would not be clear to some readers, Good News Translation expresses it in plain language as “the city will be rebuilt” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Alternatively translators may say “the people will rebuild my city.” Many may wish to follow these models.
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
or “harangue (or: ‘sermon’) of YHWH” and the
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