complete verse (Deuteronomy 32:35)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 32:35:

  • Kupsabiny: “I am the avenger.
    I shall make their legs to stagger.
    The day when they will be destroyed is near
    and the day of their end is running towards (them).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I myself will take vengeance upon them,
    I will punish them.
    The time of their complete destruction is about to come.
    Soon they will disappear."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He said, ‘I the one-who-will-take-revenge and will-punish them,
    for a time will-come that they will- surely -slip.
    Their destruction is about to come. It will- not -be-long.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I am the one who will get revenge and pay those enemies back for what they have done to my people,
    at the right time for them to be punished ;
    they will soon experience disasters,
    and I will punish/destroy them quickly.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 32:35

Vengeance is mine: this renders the Hebrew text, “to me vengeance.” The Samaritan text and the Septuagint have “the day [of vengeance]” as a runover from verse 34. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project favors this ({C} rating), although of the modern versions only Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy agree. The Handbook recommends that translators follow this. So verse 35 should begin “For the day of recompense and vengeance…” or “For the day [or, time] when I will take revenge and punish them will soon come.”

And recompense: though the enemies are God’s instrument in punishing his people, still they are responsible for what they have done, and they will be punished. The Revised Standard Version text (if followed) can be rendered “I will take revenge, I will punish.”

For the time when their foot shall slip: this can follow on from the previous line, but it seems better to make this an independent statement, as New International Version has done, “In due time their foot will slip,” or Bible en français courant “when the day of their fall arrives,” or we may even say “Suddenly they will fall!”

The day of their calamity … their doom: the next two lines have the same sense, pointing to the punishment that God will send on the enemies in the form of disasters and destruction. For calamity see 29.21.

At hand … comes swiftly: these two expressions also have the same meaning, emphasizing that the enemies will be punished very soon.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• For the day when I will take revenge
and punish them will soon come!
Suddenly their foot will slip,
and all sorts of disasters will quickly follow.

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 .