6I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not pluck them up.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 24:6:
Kupsabiny: “I will take care of them until I return them to come to this land. Those people will be built up and I do not make them fall. I will make them put down roots and I will not uproot (them).” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will- watch-over them so-that their situation will-be good, and I will-bring them back to this land. I will-cause- them again -to-rise-up and not be-destroy. I will-strengthen them and will- not -uproot.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will watch over/take care of them well, and some day I will bring them back here to Judah. I will establish them and cause them to be strong. I will cause them to be prosperous , and I will not exile them again.” (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.
I will set my eyes upon them for good is rendered “I will watch over them” by Good News Translation and “I will look after them for their good” by New American Bible. An American Translation has “I will look with friendly eyes upon them.”
Build them up, and not tear them down … plant them, and not uproot them: See 1.10, where the same verbs are used. (In that verse uproot was translated “pluck up,” and tear … down as “overthrow.”) Note also 12.14-17; 31.27-28.
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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