complete verse (Hebrews 12:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 12:8:

  • Uma: “All people whom God considers his children he advises. So, if for example you are not advised by God, it means you are not really his child.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If he does not punish/discipline you to teach you as he does to all his children, na, that means that you are not truly his children.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “If you are not trained by God, you are not really his children, but rather you are just like illegitimate children.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So if you don’t share in God’s admonishing and whipping of all his children, it means that you aren’t his true children.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well since it’s true that God corrects all his children, of course if like this is not done to you, doesn’t it mean that you are not his true children, but rather it’s like you are only illegitimate?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “God ships all his children. But if you do not want God to whip you, then how can you say that God is your Father then?” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

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 Hebrews 12:8

This verse brings out a further implication of the last sentence and confirms that Good News Translation was right to translate accepts as a son in verse 6.

The introduction of the comparative clause as all his sons are between the conditional clause and the main clause of this verse may pose problems in translation. It may be better to separate the comparative clause as all his sons are and make it an independent and initial statement; for example, “God punishes all his sons. Therefore, if you are not punished it means you are not his sons but someone else’s sons.” It is also possible to use “children” in place of sons, as mentioned in the comments on Heb. 12.5.

But bastards: the Greek puts this positive statement first, before the negative not real sons, and this may be more natural in some other languages too. Real and it means are implied. The repeated are suggests that the writer is thinking of real cases, perhaps of some of his readers who are now suffering the correction of which he speaks. However, the verse is introduced by a Greek word for If, so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s translation is possible: “God has brought up all his children in this way. If it were different with you, then you would not be his legitimate children.”

It may be necessary to indicate that bastards is to be understood in a figurative sense. Otherwise a reader might assume that all persons who are not sons of God are literally bastards, that is to say, “born out of wedlock.” Therefore but bastards may be expressed as a simile instead of a metaphor; for example, “but, on the contrary, you are like bastards.”

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .