10This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 13:10:
Kupsabiny: “These sinners who refuse my words are like that cloth. Their heads are dry (stubborn) and always evil. (They) worship idols while their thoughts derail them. Those people are worthless like that spoiled cloth.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “These wicked people will- not -obey my words. They follow the hardness of their heart, and they serve and worship other gods. So they will- surely -become like the belt that is very useless/will- not -be of any value.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Those wicked people refuse to pay attention to what I say. They stubbornly do just what they desire to do; they worship other gods. Therefore, they will become completely useless, like your waistcloth.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 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.
Most translations render this evil people as in Good News Translation: “These evil people.”
Refuse to hear my words is translated “refused to obey me” by Good News Translation.
Stubbornly follow their own heart: Compare 3.17. This clause is not found in the Septuagint, and it is omitted from New English Bible. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends its inclusion, and it is found in the majority of modern translations. New Revised Standard Version renders this “stubbornly follow their own will.” Translators can also say something like “stubbornly continue to do what they themselves want to do.”
For gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, see 7.6.
Shall be like this waistcloth: These evil people who have persisted in disobeying and in worshiping other gods are compared to the rotted loincloth. Good News Translation begins a new sentence here to make the verse easier to read: “So then, they will become like these….”
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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