Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“saying”)

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, itteo-rare-ru (言っておられる) or “saying” is used.

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

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“do/reckon”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, s-are-ru (される) or “do/reckon” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Acts 13:34

Never again to return to decay must be translated with great care. What it really means is “never to die again.” A literal rendering of return to decay may imply that Jesus’ body had already decayed once and would not decay again. But obviously the reference here is to dying again, in contrast with Lazarus who was raised from the dead, then later died a normal death, and whose body decayed. However, Jesus was raised from the dead and then ascended.

I will give you the sacred and sure blessings that I promised to David is an extremely difficult expression to translate, as can be seen by the variety of ways that it has been rendered. While the Good News Translation, Dios Habla Hoy, and New English Bible have essentially the same rendering, the Revised Standard Version has “I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David,” Phillips “I shall (King James Version “will”) give you the sure mercies of David,” Jerusalem Bible “I shall give the sure and holy things promised to David,” and Moffatt “I will give you the holiness of David that fails not.” It is assumed that the quotation comes from the Septuagint of Isaiah 55.3, and in Greek it reads “I will give to you (plural) the holy things of David, the faithful things.” But what “the holy things” and “the faithful things” are is not made clear in the Septuagint passage, and this accounts for the different translations. As is indicated by the translations quoted above, some understand these to be “promises,” “decrees,” or “blessings”; and Moffatt takes the plural nouns in the sense of “the holiness” that David possessed. All in all it seems best to understand the words as referring to something that God had promised, perhaps to his blessings.

Not only is the exegesis of the clause I will give you the sacred and sure blessings difficult, but the rendering of this clause, following the Good News Translation and other translations, is almost equally complex. In the first place, one cannot “give blessings” in a number of languages. One may use a verb expression “to bless,” and one may thus render give … sure blessings as “most certainly bless you.” But how is one to introduce the concept of sacred … blessings? In a number of languages this is rendered as “bless you in a sacred way” or “bless you with sacred benefits.”

One must that you in this verse is plural and emphatic. One might expect it to refer only to Jesus, but the obvious reference here is to the blessings which come to those who put their trust in Jesus.

The clause that I promised to David may be translated as “just as I also promised David.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .