Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 7:13:
Kupsabiny: “His is the one who will build for me a house where I shall be named/called upon and his leadership will be strong all days.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “He will be the one who will build my temple, and I will establish his throne forever.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He will-be- the -one-to-build a temple for my honor, and I will-make-sure that his descendants are the-(ones-who) will-reign forever/[lit. until whenever].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “He is the one who will arrange for a temple to be built for me , and I will cause his descendants to be kings of Israel forever.” (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.
He: the pronoun in Hebrew is emphatic, and it is important to retain this emphasis in translation. New International Version does so by saying “He is the one who….” Similarly Knox says “he it is….” Compare also Good News Translation. Fox shows this emphasis in the Hebrew by using italic font for the pronoun. The idea behind this emphasis is that it definitely will not be David who will do the building of the temple.
Here again the word house refers to a temple as the play on words between the meanings “temple” and “dynasty” continues.
For my name: since the name represents the person in the Old Testament, it will be better in many languages to translate as in Good News Translation, New Century Version, and Contemporary English Version, “for me.”
Establish the throne of his kingdom: this is similar to the expression used in the previous verse, but here the word throne is added. The idea is that the existence of the throne and therefore of the kingdom is guaranteed, and that it is God’s action that assures this. The verb establish, a key term in this chapter, is repeated in verse 16. Compare also 5.12 and 1 Sam 13.13. A possible translation model is “no one will be able to take his kingdom away from him” (Contemporary English Version) or “I will always keep his kingdom strong.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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