7For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, “Obey my voice.”
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 11:7:
Kupsabiny: “I had emphasized seriously to their forefathers when I led then out of the land of Egypt, and I have continued to tell them to obey me to this day.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “From the time that I caused- your (plur.) ancestors to-come-out of Egipto until now, I repeatedly warned them that they (will-)obey me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When I brought their ancestors out of Egypt, I solemnly pleaded with them many times to obey me, and I am still pleading with them now.” (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).
I solemnly warned translates a Hebrew idiom (literally “warning I warned”), which New English Bible translates “I took pains to warn” and New American Bible “Urgently … I warned.” New International Version apparently combines solemnly warned with persistently and translates “I warned them again and again.” For both Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “I pleaded … tirelessly I pleaded with them, repeating….”
Even to this day is translated “until this day” by Good News Translation.
As elsewhere, Obey my voice is more naturally rendered “obey me” (Good News Translation).
The whole verse may be restructured slightly as follows:
• For from the time I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt until now, I have been constantly urging you to obey me.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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