5They are coming to fight the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of those whom I shall strike down in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated into English as “the wrath of God” or “God’s anger” has to be referred to in Bengali as judgment, punishment or whatever fits the context. In Bengali culture, anger is by definition bad and can never be predicated of God. (Source: David Clark)
Translations in other languages:
Quetzaltepec Mixe: “translated with a term that not only expresses anger, but also punishment” (source: Robert Bascom)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “the coming punishment of God on mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “God’s fearful/terrible future punishing of people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “the coming anger/hatred of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “the punishment which will come” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Bariai: “God’s action of anger comes forth in the open” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Mairasi: “His anger keeps increasing (until it will definitely arrive)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御) is used as in mi-ikari (御怒り) or “wrath (of God)” in the referenced verses. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
The name that is transliterated as “Chaldean” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with the sign that combines “Mesopotamia” (see here) and “spreading out,” since the Chaldeans originated in southern Mesopotamia and spread out from there. (Source: Missão Kophós )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 33:5:
Kupsabiny: “People will try to fight against the people of Babylon but my wrath will rise up and I will be very angry and kill those people with corpses piling up in those houses. I will turn my back on this city because they have done a great sin.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “this will- still -be-entered by those from-Babilonia. Many will-die in this city because I will-destroy it in my great anger with you (plur.). I will-reject this city because of all its wickedness.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “You are expecting to fight against the army from Babylonia, but what will happen is that the houses of this city will be filled with the corpses of the men of this city whom I will allow to be killed because I am extremely angry with them. I have abandoned them because of all the wicked things that they have done.” (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.
The Hebrew text at the end of verse 4 and the beginning of verse 5 is extremely difficult and problematic. A fairly literal translation would say “… torn down to the siege mounds and to the sword by coming to fight with the Chaldeans….” Most translators resolve the difficulty by assuming that the picture is of people destroying houses in order to get materials to plug up the city wall and raise barricades against the attacking enemy. But other scholars object, on the grounds that the siege mounds were set up by the attackers and that the willful destruction of property is not mentioned in the description of the reconstruction (verse 6). If this conclusion is followed, then there is no real connection between verses 4 and 5. In verse 5 Revised Standard Version alters the Hebrew by making Chaldeans the subject rather than the object of the verb to fight. If the Hebrew text is followed as it stands, then New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is a good representation of it: “… torn down for [defense] against the siege-mounds and against the sword, 5 and were filled by those who went to fight the Chaldeans….”
Were torn down is a passive construction, and in many languages it will be necessary to have an agent. Following the suggested interpretation above, translators can say “[houses] which the people tore down to make a defense.” However, Good News Translation “torn down as a result of the siege and the attack” could mean either that the people tore the houses down or that the attackers did. Translators may then find Bible en français courant a useful model: “They are in ruins.” In fact, Bible en français courant represents a good way to relate verses 4 and 5: “I have something to say about the houses of this city and the dwellings of the kings of Judah. They are in ruins. To oppose the siege mounds and fight the Babylonians is useless; this only serves to fill the city with the corpses of men who are the victims of my furious anger.”
As elsewhere in these chapters, Good News Translation renders Chaldeans as “Babylonians” to maintain consistency. See 21.4.
For siege mounds, see 6.6.
The siege mounds and the sword were two of the ways of attacking against which the people were trying to defend themselves. Therefore against the siege mounds and before the sword can be expressed as “[for defense] against the siege mounds and swords of the attackers” or “against the siege mounds and the attackers.”
For my anger and my wrath, see 7.20.
I have hidden my face from this city is a gesture indicating displeasure (see Deut 31.17). Translators can say something like “I do not care about this city” or “I will not concern myself with this city.”
For wickedness see 1.16.
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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