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”.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“say”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 46:25

Verses 25-26 are in prose and form a commentary on the previous poetic section. They are firstly a statement of the LORD’s threat against Egypt and then his promise that it will again prosper.

The LORD of hosts: See 2.19.

Behold: See 1.6.

Amon of Thebes: Thebes was the capital city of northern (lower) Egypt, and Amon was its chief god. Hence Good News Translation has “Amon, the god of Thebes.”

Pharaoh is a title for the king of Egypt (see 25.19). It is used twice in the verse, and some translations simply drop the second occurrence. But others are closer to the example of Good News Translation, which introduces a second sentence to account for those who trust in him.

For gods see 1.16.

Bassa in Liberia offers a model for translation of the quote in this verse:

• Look, I will punish Amon who is the god of the Egyptians in the city of Thebes and their other gods and the whole land of Egypt and its king and its big government officials and all those who trust in the Egyptian king.

Another possible model is:

• I am going to punish the god Amon of the city Thebes, and also the Egyptian king [or, the Pharaoh], all of Egypt, and her gods and kings. Yes, I will punish the Pharaoh and all who are dependent on him.

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 .