Translation commentary on Daniel 6:27

Delivers and rescues … works …: the habitual verb form will probably be used in those languages that possess such a form. In other languages there will be different means of indicating that this is an action that occurs regularly and not just something that happens once or is simply taking place at present.

Signs and wonders: see 4.2.

Saved: this is the same word as translated delivers at the beginning of the verse (compare Good News Translation). But in some languages it may be stylistically desirable to use a different term here. Note, however, that the verb form is different, since this part of the verse talks about the past tense deliverance of Daniel from the lions, while the first part of the verse is a generalization about the nature of God.

From the power of the lions: literally “from the hand of the lions”; but as has been pointed out earlier (1.2 and 3.15), the word “hand” often stands for power. Translators may also consider “from certain death in the lions’ pit” or, more literally, “from the claws (or paws) of the lions.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

3rd person pronoun with high register (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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used.

In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.