2nd person pronoun with low register (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 39:17

Verses 17-20 elaborate on a brief reference in verse 4 about birds and wild animals eating the corpses of Gog and his soldiers. A careful reader will notice that these verses are out of place here because the previous verses have described how all the corpses have been buried already. It will therefore be necessary in some languages to introduce these verses with a connecting expression, such as “While those bodies were still lying on the ground” or “Before those bodies were buried.”

As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: For this introduction to a new part of the prophecy, see the comments on Ezek 39.1.

Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: God tells Ezekiel to speak to the birds and wild animals on his behalf. For the birds of every sort and all beasts of the field, see the comments on Ezek 39.4.

Assemble and come, gather from all sides to the sacrificial feast: The Hebrew verbs rendered Assemble, come, and gather have a similar meaning. By using these three verbs, God issues a very strong summons to the birds and animals. Some translations do not reflect the three verbs and lose some of the force of the summons (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). New Century Version keeps three verbs here by saying “Come together, come! Come together from all around to my sacrifice.” If using all three verbs is clumsy or unnatural in their language, translators will do well to find another way to retain the forcefulness of the summons. God calls the birds and animals to a sacrificial feast. In ancient times the Israelites used to kill animals and birds and offer them to God on an altar. Sometimes they would burn the bodies of these animals and birds completely, but more often they would give only certain parts of them to God by burning them, and roast or boil the rest of the meat to eat. Thus the sacrifice of an animal to God usually also involved a feast for the people. It is this sort of sacrificial feast that God is talking about here, except that the birds and animals will be doing the feasting and the meat they eat will be human flesh. Translators need to be sure that the feasting element comes through clearly in their translations.

Which I am preparing for you: God himself is getting this feast ready and will be the host. The pronoun I refers to him and the pronoun you to the birds and animals. A possible way of describing this sacrificial feast is “I am about offer a sacrifice and want you to come to the feast I am getting ready after it.”

A great sacrificial feast upon the mountains of Israel: God describes the sacrificial feast as great, that is, “huge” (Good News Translation), very big, and it will be upon the mountains of Israel, that is, in the area where Gog and his army will die (see Ezek 39.4).

And you shall eat flesh and drink blood: At a normal sacrificial feast the people would eat the meat of the sacrificed animals and birds, and they would drink wine that had been offered up to God. At this sacrificial feast the situation will be reversed. The birds and animals will eat flesh and drink blood, that is, eat human flesh and drink human blood. Flesh and blood can sometimes be used to refer to the whole body of a person, so this clause may be rendered as “You will eat the bodies of the men who have died.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .