5For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 9:5:
Kankanaey: “‘The lives of you people are also valuable, because I made you similar to myself just the same. Therefore whoever kills a person, I condemn (him) to bear-the-consequences, because if there is an animal that kills a person, I will punish it so-that that’s his cause-of-death. If there is also a person who kills his fellow, a person just the same will be the-one-to-kill him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “I will keep account of your blood. With all animals and people, I will keep account of the blood of people.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-ask-for-payment to whoever will-kill you (pl.), even the animals. I will-ask-for-payment to whoever will-kill his fellow-human-being.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I insist that murderers must be executed. Animals that kill people must also be executed. The reason that everyone who murders someone else must be executed is that” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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).
This verse is made up of three conditions in which God will demand an accounting of the offender. The verse is complicated by the shifting from the second person your at the beginning of the verse to other persons with no clear transitions. Most translations will require considerable adjustment to make the meaning clear.
For your lifeblood: your is plural with reference to Noah and his family, and to their descendants in future generations. The expression is literally “the blood of your [plural] nefesh.” Although there is no verb in the construction, one is clearly understood, that is, “the taking of your life,” “the shedding of your blood, which takes away your life.” “Blood” represents the life force in human beings as well as in animals. In some translations this is expressed in the same way as in the previous verse: “… your blood, that is, your life.”
Require a reckoning translates a verb meaning to call someone to account, that is, to make someone responsible, or to make someone answer to a charge. New English Bible says “I will demand satisfaction.” The sense of the verse up to this point may be translated “If anyone takes another person’s life, I will demand an account” or “You will have to answer to me if you murder someone.” But as the rest of this verse and the next verse indicate, the meaning is that punishment, and not just an explanation, is what is required. So a number of translations say straight out “… I will punish him” or “I will pay him back for….” One translation says idiomatically “If any animal or person ends your life, I will make him [or, it] understand” (that is, “I will punish…”).
Of every beast I will require it means that punishment will be required for an animal that kills a person: the animal will be killed. See Exo 21.28-29. And of man is a shortened repetition of the previous clause and means that the person who kills another human being will be put to death; that is, the same law applies to the human murderer as to the animal that kills a person.
Of every man’s brother parallels the expression of every beast. Brother in this context means “a fellow human being,” “a neighbor,” “another person,” “anyone.” I will require the life of man expresses the same thought as above, concerning the punishment of the animal that kills a human. So here, if anyone takes another person’s life, murders him, God will require the murderer to pay with his life. Good News Translation has placed this thought at the beginning of verse 5: “If anyone takes human life, he will be punished.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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