LORD your God / Lord your God

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “Lord your God” or “Lord your God” is translated as “Lord our God” and “Lord our God” in Tzotzil as well as in many other Mayan languages if the speaker is included as one who calls the Lord their God. If the speaker said “your God” in Tzotzil, he or she would refer to the God of the people he or she addresses but would specifically exclude himself or herself. (Source: Robert Bascom in Omanson 2001, p. 254)

See also my God.

complete verse (Jeremiah 2:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 2:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “So now, the stomach of Israel,
    Did you not bring it on youselves by refusing me, your God,
    the one who led you by the hand along the road?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘You (plur.) yourselves Israelinhon (were) the(-ones-who) brought this destruction to you (plur.). For you (plur.) rejected me, the LORD your (plur.) God, when I led you (plur.) in the way/path.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 2:17

Perhaps because there is a question being posed directly to Israel, Good News Translation shifts to second person here, and therefore has to also address Israel by name: “Israel, you brought….”

The negative question Have you not…? expects the answer “Yes, we have.” We may then translate it as a statement: “Israel, you brought this on yourself!” (Good News Translation). Both Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Luther 1984 also simplify the reading by replacing the negative rhetorical question with a statement.

By forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way is transformed into direct discourse by Good News Translation (see the discussion at 1.4) and simultaneously made into a complete sentence: “You deserted me, the LORD your God, while I was leading you along the way.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is similar: “I, the Lord your God, went before you and wanted you to follow, but you turned away from me.” Not all translators will find it natural to use direct discourse as Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch do. For some it will be better to continue with reported speech as in the text; for example, “You brought all this on yourself when you turned away from the LORD your God when he was leading you along the way.”

The LORD your God may need to be expressed as “the LORD who is your God” or “the LORD who is God [to you].”

The Septuagint omits when he led you in the way from this verse. However, it would probably be necessary in some languages to include this information. Moreover, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project indicates that the Hebrew and the Septuagint each represent separate developments from a common base; and in the light of this we should accept the text either of the Hebrew or of the Greek, without trying to explain one on the basis of the other.

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 .