10And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “firstborn” in English is translated in a number of ways:
“he/she that opens the gown” in Batak Toba (because formerly a woman stopped wearing a gown and started using a bodice after the birth of her first child)
“he/she that damages the stalk (i.e. the body)” in Uab Meto (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
“oldest child” in Isthmus Zapotec (source for this and one above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
“firstborn child, who was a boy” in Elhomwe (to make clear, without ambiguity, that Mary did not have daughters before) (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In Bawm Chin, the term can imply the existence of younger siblings, so a translation is needed that brings out the fact that Jesus is superior to all else, not just the first of a series. (Source: David Clark)
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, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).
In Cherokee it is translated as “going around feeling badly” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16).
The Hebrew in Zechariah 12:10 that is translated as “the one whom they have pierced” in English is translated into Tibetan with a honorific for “the one” or “him,” with a view to allowing for the quotation in John 19:37 (In the English New Revised Standard Version: “And again another passage of scripture says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.'”).
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Zechariah 12:10:
Kupsabiny: “I shall fill the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem with a spirit that makes them show mercy and of prayer. Then, they shall look with hope to the person that they pierced and mourn over him like when one mourns for an only child that has died. Those people shall mourn a lot like one mourns when a firstborn son has died.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “I will fill the House of David and the people of Jerusalem with a spirit of mercy and prayer. They will look upon me, the man they themselves have pierced. And people will mourn for him as people mourn for an only son, as they mourn for a first-born son.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘I will-give the descendants of David and the residents of Jerusalem the spirit of kindness and prayerfulness. They will-look-at me the one they have-stabbed and they will-cry like a parent who is-crying of/due-to the death of their only child or a oldest child.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘I, Yahweh, will cause the descendants of King David to act very kindly and mercifully. They will look at me, the one who has been stabbed, and they will cry bitterly, like people cry for a firstborn son who has died.” (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.
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