The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 1:10:
Kupsabiny: “I have today given you power to advise communities and kings, to uproot and destroy, tear down and destroy, build and plant.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Today I have-chosen you (sing.) to speak with authority to the nations and kingdoms. You (sing.) say to them that some of them will- surely -be-destroyed, and some of them will-rise-up and will-stand again.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Today I am appointing you to warn nations and kingdoms. You will tell them that I will completely destroy and get rid of some of them and that I will establish others and cause them to be strong.’” (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.
See (so also New International Version) is translated “Look” by New Jerusalem Bible; in function this word is an attention-getter, similar to “Behold” in verse 9, and it is left out as unnecessary by a number of translations (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New English Bible, An American Translation [An American Translation]).
The Hebrew verb translated set … over is translated “made … overseer” by Revised Standard Version in Gen 39.4. That is also the rendering given the text by Bright (Anchor Bible) here; both Good News Translation and New English Bible have “give … authority over.” In Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch the first part of verse 10 is rendered “From today on you have power over people and kingdoms.” New International Version and Bible en français courant interpret the word to mean “appoint” or “entrust” with similar meaning to the word in verse 5. So New International Version has “today I appoint you over nations…” and Bible en français courant “today I entrust [or, assign] you with a task that concerns nations….”
Kingdoms are, of course, themselves nations with kings. The usage of two or more words with essentially the same meaning is a typical feature of the Hebrew language. Therefore, it is not really necessary to attempt to distinguish between these two terms, particularly if that would result in an awkward sentence. “Countries and chiefdoms” might be tried, but the function of the combination is perhaps here intended to be inclusive: “all peoples,” “all nations,” or “all countries.”
The way in which Jeremiah’s authority over nations and kingdoms would reveal itself is defined by six verbs, four of which are negative (pluck up … break down … destroy … overthrow) and two of which are positive (build … plant). This reflects Jeremiah’s preaching, the major portion of which concerns God’s judgment upon the people because of their sin.
The portrayal of Jeremiah’s prophetic task in six verbs is not intended to describe events in sequence, as though Jeremiah’s message of judgment (the first four verbs) would then be followed by that of salvation (the last two verbs). Throughout the course of his ministry Jeremiah emphasized both aspects, though his proclamation was weighted in the direction of judgment. Some scholars assume that the phrase to destroy and to overthrow was not an original part of the text. They believe it was brought in from such passages as 18.7; 24.6; 31.28. If these two verbs were omitted, then a construction would result in which pluck up would balance with plant and break down would balance with build. Although this suggestion is attractive, it is without textual support, and so cannot be followed in translation.
The six verbs that Jeremiah uses are taken from everyday life in his part of the world. Pluck up (Good News Translation “uproot”) and plant come from agricultural life, and a play on words is probably intended between the words pluck up and break down, which sound very much alike in Hebrew. Break down is used of houses in 33.4 and of the walls of Jerusalem in 39.8 and 52.14. Israel and Judah, together with their people and animals, are the object of this verb in 31.28, while in 18.7 it has the same objects as it does here.
The verb destroy appears also in 18.7 and 31.28. In 46.8 it is used of cities and their inhabitants and in 49.38 of a king and his princes. In 25.10, where its objects are “voice,” “grinding,” and “light,” Revised Standard Version translates the verb as “banish.”
Overthrow also is used together with break down and destroy in 31.28, while in three other passages it is used in parallel to pluck up (24.6, where Revised Standard Version translates it “uproot”; 42.10; 45.4). Thus all four of these verbs convey essentially the same meaning, and they were perhaps used by Jeremiah with no real distinction between them.
Pluck up is often translated with a word that means to pull up by the roots. Generally it is not necessary to make this a complete simile, as in “pull them up by their roots as if they were a plant” or “pull them up like a plant by its roots”; but this can be done if translators feel that otherwise readers would not follow the meaning. Similarly, it is sometimes helpful to render break down with “tear them down like a building” or “destroy them like tearing down a building.” And likewise with the other verbs. The problem with such comparisons is that some of the impact of the sharp poetic imagery is lost. But in languages where some object of these verbs is needed, translators can say “I have given you authority today over all countries, so that you will uproot them or break them down, destroy them or demolish them, build them up or make them grow like plants.”
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.