complete verse (Deuteronomy 1:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 1:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “But I alone am not able to struggle with your quarreling and your difficult matters.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “But how will I be able to carry the load of your problems, disputes, conflicts and threats alone?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But how can- I -solve/settle your (plur.) fights and problems alone/[lit. just I]?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But I certainly cannot solve/deal with all of your complaints/problems.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 1:12

How can I bear alone the weight…? This is what is called a rhetorical question; that is, Moses does not want an answer to his question (as though someone could tell him how he could bear the weight alone), but he is declaring, emphatically, that it is not possible for him to bear the weight alone. So in languages that would not use a rhetorical question in this context, we may translate, for example, “But I cannot alone bear the heavy responsibility…” or “But I cannot take care of all your problems … alone” (Contemporary English Version), or else “There is no way I could bear….”

The weight and burden of you and your strife: this translates the Hebrew “the-load-of-you and the-burden-of-you and your-strife.” The first two nouns have the same meaning, and it may be that they function as a phrase, “heavy burden” or “heavy load.” The noun translated strife means more precisely “complaints” and here refers to the complaints the people made against Moses, accusing him of being a failure and of making them suffer (see Exo 17.7; Num 14.1-4). See Revised English Bible “and put up with your complaints.” This seems preferable to Good News Translation “disputes” and Revised Standard Version strife.

It is possible that all three nouns go together in one phrase: “the heavy load of your complaints” or “your continual [or incessant, or unending] complaining.” And the entire verse may be alternatively expressed as:

• But I cannot alone bear [or, put up with] your unending complaints against me.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .