28And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number, and all the remnant of Judah who have come to the land of Egypt to settle shall know whose words will stand, mine or theirs!
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 44:28:
Kupsabiny: “If possible, there are only a few people who will escape the war who will leave Egypt and return to Judah. That remnant of Judah will know at that time that it is the words of whom that will stick, theirs or mine?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “If ever there will-be-left (any) from battle and can-return to Juda, just very few. Then the left-behind people of Juda who now live here in Egipto will-know whose word has-been-fulfilled — mine or theirs.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Only a very few of you will not die, and will return to Judah. When that happens, all those who came to Egypt will find out whose words were true/were fulfilled, theirs or mine.’” (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.
And those who escape the sword: There is an apparent contradiction between verse 27, which suggests the Jewish community will be totally wiped out, and this verse, which promises that some will return safely. However, Hebrew is fond of using “all” in a less than inclusive sense for the sake of emphasis, and in fact this verse agrees with verse 14 in referring to some people who escape.
The first half of this verse may be translated with Good News Translation as “But a few of you will escape death and return from Egypt to Judah.” Another way to express it is “Some of you will escape being killed, and will go back to Judah from Egypt. But you will be few in number.”
All the remnant of Judah: See 6.9.
Whose word will stand is an idiomatic expression meaning “whose words will come true.”
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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