inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Jeremiah 3:24)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Lord.

complete verse (Jeremiah 3:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 3:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “From long ago, we have been worshipping that shameful thing. But we were losing sheep, cows, sons, daughters and everything that our forefathers had struggled to get.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “From our (excl.) youth the shameful little-gods/false-gods were the ones who benefited the fruit of the labor of our (excl.) ancestors, who were their animals and children.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “From the time when we were young, the shameful god Baal has taken away from us everything that our ancestors worked hard to acquire.
    He has taken away their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, their sons and their daughters.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 3:24

From our youth: See 2.2. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “As long as we can remember” and Good News Translation “since ancient times.”

The shameful thing is a reference to the god Baal (see 11.13, where the identification is made in the text itself). Thus “Baal, the god of shame” is the choice of Good News Translation, while Luther 1984 and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch have “The shameful Baal.” New English Bible has “Baal, god of shame.” Shameful means “disgraceful” or “despicable.”

All for which … labored translates one word in Hebrew which may mean either “labor” or “something earned by labor.” Thus all for which our fathers labored is actually a noun construction in Hebrew: “the labor of our fathers.” The reference is to what follows, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. For fathers refer to verse 18.

Their flocks and their herds can be rendered “their sheep and cattle.”

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes verse 24 into two sentences:

• The shameful Baal has devoured everything our ancestors have acquired. As long as we can remember, he has devoured our sheep and cattle and our sons and daughters.

In many languages the image devoured will be clearly understood, but others will find it helpful to look at Good News Translation “the worship of … has made us lose.” Another example is:

• As long as we can remember that shameful god Baal has cost us everything our ancestors worked for; we have lost flocks and herds and sons and daughters.

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 .