The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 33:7:
Kupsabiny: “I shall re-establish the people of Judah and those of Israel until they live like before.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-cause-to-return to their land those from-Israel and from-Juda from captivity, and I will-set-up again their cities just as before.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will bring the people of Judah and Israel back from the lands to which they were exiled. I will enable them to rebuild their towns.” (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.
Restore the fortunes: See 29.14. Here some translations have the sense of “bring back the captives” (New Jerusalem Bible; also New International Version), but “make prosperous” (so Good News Translation) is more usual.
Israel: Some Septuagint manuscripts have “Jerusalem,” which is followed by Jerusalem Bible.
Rebuild here means “reestablish.” Translators should not leave readers with the impression that the LORD means simply to rebuild the cities and houses.
As they were at first means “as they were before” (Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation) or “as they once were” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
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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