LORD your God / Lord your God

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “Lord your God” or “Lord your God” is translated as “Lord our God” and “Lord our God” in Tzotzil as well as in many other Mayan languages if the speaker is included as one who calls the Lord their God. If the speaker said “your God” in Tzotzil, he or she would refer to the God of the people he or she addresses but would specifically exclude himself or herself. (Source: Robert Bascom in Omanson 2001, p. 254)

See also my God.

complete verse (Deuteronomy 14:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 14:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “You are the children of God. Do not cut yourselves and do not cut the hair of the face/eyes because of a person who has died like other communities do.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You are the people of the LORD your God. Do not wound your bodies for a person who has died, and do not shave the front of your head as other people do.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘You (plur.) are the children of the LORD your (plur.) God. Therefore if you (plur.) mourn for a dead-one, you (plur.) do- not -cut yourselves or shave your (plur.) head.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘We are people who belong to Yahweh our God. So, when people die, do not show that you are grieving by gashing/cutting yourselves or by shaving the hair on your foreheads like the other people-groups do.” (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 14:1

Since this seems to be a separate matter, it is recommended that translators start with something like “Moses said to the people of Israel.”

You are the sons of the LORD your God: that is, “… the children [or, sons and daughters] of Yahweh,” the covenant community. For the LORD your God see 1.6.

The last phrase of the verse, for the dead, modifies the two verbs cut and make. So it is better to place it first, as Good News Translation does: “So when you mourn for the dead…,” or “when you show sorrow for the dead [or, people who have died].”

Cut yourselves: this refers to gashes and cuts that were made by followers of some religions and cults as part of mourning for the dead.

Make any baldness on your forehead: New Revised Standard Version is somewhat better, “shave your forelocks.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, however, is best: “shave the front of your heads” (as also Good News Translation).

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 .