covenant (tablets)

The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “covenant” or “testimony” in English and refers to the stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai are translated in Kupsabiny as “two stones (that are flat-and-thin) on which the law is written,” in Hiligaynon as “the wide stone on which is-written the Law.” (Source: Kupsabiny and Hiligaynon Back-Translations), and in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) as miyala iŵiri ija yolembedwapo mau a chipangano or “those two stones on which are written the words of the agreement” (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 110).

In the English Translation for Translators it is translated as stone slabs and in the New English Bible as Tokens (source: Elizabeth Lewis).

See also 10 commandments on stone tablets (image) and ark of the covenant.

complete verse (Deuteronomy 9:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 9:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, I took those two stones and threw them down to break in front of them.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So I threw away the two stone tablets in my hands and shattered them in your presence.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So before/[lit. in front of] you (plur.) I threw-(them)-down/struck-down the two wide stone and it broke-into-pieces.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So while they were watching, I lifted up those two stone tablets and threw them on the ground, and they broke into pieces.” (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 9:17

I took hold … and cast them: this sounds as though Moses had laid the stone tablets down and then picked them up again. Or else it means that he took a firm grip on the tablets and threw them violently to the ground. This was a deliberate action, not an impulsive act. If translators have a word in their language that means using great force, that term should be used here. It was a way of showing that the covenant between Yahweh and Israel was no longer in existence; by building the idol the Israelites had canceled the covenant, and Moses, representing Yahweh, breaks the tablets of the covenant. No longer is there a covenant between Yahweh and Israel.

And cast them … and broke them: that is, “I threw them down and broke them” This does not describe two separate actions but one—the act of throwing them to the ground broke them into pieces.

Before your eyes: Moses did this as a public gesture, so that all the Israelites could see that the covenant with Yahweh had been canceled. Other ways of saying this are “There right in front of you” or “right before your eyes” (Contemporary English Version). In some languages this phrase may be placed at the beginning of the verse, as in 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 .