complete verse (Exodus 23:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 23:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “Do not mistreat a stranger because you have known the badness of that thing/matter when you were in Egypt.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Do not oppress a foreigner, you yourself know how it feels to be foreigners because you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘You (plur.) should- not -oppress a foreigner, for you yourselves knows what the feeling of a foreigner (is like), for you (plur.) (were) also foreigners a-long-time-ago in Egipto.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “‘If a man from another area is living in your midst, you (pl.) can’t/mustn’t deal harshly with him. For you remember your difficult experience which the Isip people were doing to you before.’” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “Foreigner who lives home your, you (sing., imp.) not (imp.) him evil do. Because you people of Israel, you see troubles of foreigners during years when you were foreigners in Egypt.»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Do not mistreat foreigners who live among you. You know how people often treat foreigners, because the Egyptians did not treat you well when you were foreigners there.” (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 Exod 23:9

You shall not oppress a stranger is literally “And an alien you [singular] shall not press.” Stranger is used three times in this verse. It is better rendered as “resident alien” (New Revised Standard Version) or “foreigner” (Good News Translation). This is the same word that Revised Standard Version translates as “sojourner” in 2.22 and 12.19. (See the comment there.) The word for oppress has the root meaning of crowding or pushing someone against his will. It may be understood here as “mistreat” (Good News Translation).

You know the heart of a stranger is literally “you [plural], you know the soul of the alien.” The emphatic you is used here in the plural to include all Israelites. New International Version has “you yourselves,” which brings out both the emphasis and the plural in English. The word for heart is nefesh, usually translated as “soul” in King James Version. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh here translates it as “feelings,” and others, including Good News Translation, have “you know how it feels.” Contemporary English Version has “you know what it is like” (similarly also New American Bible, Revised English Bible, and New International Version).

For you were strangers in the land of Egypt, literally “for aliens you [plural] were,” places the word strangers before the verb for emphasis. If Egypt is clearly understood as a country, then it is not necessary to retain the land of.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .