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 2:11:
Kupsabiny: “No community has changed what they worship even if those things were worthless. But my people chose to join/work with idols, instead of continuing working with me the God of power.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Is there a nation who changed its god, even-though this is not (a) true god? But my people they exchanged me who is their honorable God for worthless gods.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
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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.
For similar judgments against Israel, see 5.7; 16.19-20. The people of Israel have committed a grievous sin, so terrible that it goes beyond even what the heathen have done.
Has a nation changed its gods…? expects a negative answer, which is the basis for Good News Translation “No other nation has ever changed its gods….” In some languages it will be clearer to say “changed the gods they worship.” Changed, of course, does not mean to change the gods into something else, but to exchange them for some other object of worship. For gods see the discussion at 1.16. Although the heathen nations worship gods that in reality are no gods, they still maintain their loyalty to them. No gods must be understood in the sense of “gods that are not real” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “And they are not even gods!”). The expression might need to be expanded for clarity, as in “even though those gods [or, things] they worship are not really gods!”
Their glory is a difficult expression to translate. It does not in this context refer to any splendor or honor of the people, but to God who is their glory. The noun glory, when used of God, summarizes all that he is—his power and greatness, but especially his splendor and majesty. New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, and New International Version have “exchanged their Glory.” Although the use of the capital “G” may be an effective device for sophisticated readers, it is of no help whatsoever for persons who must depend upon hearing the Scripture read. Another rendering is “exchanged the very thing that brings them honor and splendor for something that can do nothing for them at all.” Good News Translation attempts a meaningful rendering: “exchanged me, the God who has brought them honor….” The restructuring of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is better yet: “But my people have exchanged me for gods who cannot help them; and they did this even though they have seen my full glory.”
For that which does not profit repeats the thought of verse 8: “and went after things that do not profit.” As in that verse, so here the reference is to the gods of the Canaanites: “for a god altogether powerless” (Revised English Bible). Thus an emphatic contrast is made between the God of Israel who has power to protect his people (“the God of glory”) and the gods of the Canaanite religion which have no power to save their worshipers. Translators might have to say “for gods who can’t do anything for them [or, to help them].”
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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