peace (inner peace)

The Hebrew and Greek that is usually translated into English as “peace,” when referring to one’s inner peace, is (back-) translated with a variety of idioms and phrases:

In American Sign Language it is signed with a compound sign consisting of “become” and “silent.” (Source: Yates 2011, p. 52)


“Peace” in American Sign Language (source )

See also peace (absence of strife) and this devotion on YouVersion and this one on Bible Gateway .

complete verse (Jeremiah 33:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 33:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “In spite of that, I shall save this city and my people shall live/stay in a good way. They shall rejoice over their stay and peace will be great/much.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘But the time will-come that I will-heal this city and its residents. Then they will-live successfully and peacefully.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “However, there will be a time when I will cause the people in this city to be healthy and strong again. I will enable them to be prosperous and have peace.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 33:6

Behold marks a contrastive transition from verse 5. Instead of turning away from the city as in verse 5, the LORD now speaks of healing it. Good News Translation has “But.” It is also possible to say “But look” or “Nevertheless” (New International Version).

I will bring to it health: The same expression is used in 30.17 (“I will restore health”). See also 8.22, where Revised Standard Version has “Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?”

Healing: The word for healing is literally “new flesh.” The same word is used in 8.15; 14.19 (twice). In this sentence health and healing mean essentially the same, and translators should render them as naturally as possible without trying to make a great distinction between them.

Translators must not make the mistake of interpreting reveal literally, with the meaning only of “show” or “allow to see.” New International Version is correct with “[I] will let them enjoy.”

Abundance: As the Revised Standard Version note indicates, there is some doubt regarding the precise meaning of the word. One scholar assumes that it must mean “treasures,” on the assumption that it is related to a word meaning “diadem” or “crown.” Another scholar divides the word into two parts with the resulted meaning “time of refreshing” or “time of relief.” Good News Translation renders abundance of prosperity and security as “abundant peace and security.” New American Bible takes the construction prosperity and security to mean “lasting peace.” For prosperity see 22.21.

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 .