The name that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language and American Sign Language with the signs signifying “hairy forearm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm, Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Esau” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 49:8:
Kupsabiny: “You run away, oh, people of Dedan and go and hide in the caves, because I am going to destroy the descendants of Esau when I punish them.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) who live in Dedan you flee and hide in deep caves. For I will-send destruction the descendants of Esau in the time that I will-punish them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “You people of Dedan city in the south of Edom, turn and flee and hide in deep caves, because when I cause the Edom people-group to experience disaster, I will punish you, too.” (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.
Good News Translation reverses the order of Flee, turn back to “turn and run,” which is more natural in English.
Dwell in the depths is given the meaning of “Hide” by Good News Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is more picturesque: “Hide in the caves.”
O inhabitants of Dedan!: Dedan was a city southeast of Edom. Since Edom apparently never extended its territory this far, some scholars assume that the reference must be to a large settlement of people from Dedan who were living in Edom. As in Good News Translation, many translators will move “You people of Dedan” to the beginning of the sentence.
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him is somewhat unclear. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh (“For I am bringing Esau’s doom upon him”) and New Jerusalem Bible (“for I shall bring ruin upon Esau”) are much clearer. For calamity see 48.16. Esau was the brother of Jacob (Israel) and the ancestor of the Edomites (Gen 36). Thus many translations have “Esau’s descendants.” For the last two lines Good News Translation says “I am going to destroy Esau’s descendants because the time has come for me to punish them.”
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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