Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 51:1:
Kupsabiny: “God is saying, ‘I will send to Babylon and its people a wind that destroys people.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “This is still what the LORD has said concerning Babilonia: ‘I will challenge the destroyer to attack Babilonia and to her people.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “This is what Yahweh says: ‘I will inspire/motivate an army to destroy Babylon like a powerful wind , and also to destroy the people of Babylonia.” (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.
I will stir up … against can be expressed as “I will inspire to go against” or “I will send to attack.”
The spirit of a destroyer is rendered either “a destroying wind” or “a destructive wind” by New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Good News Translation, and Bible en français courant. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “a devastating storm.” The problem is that the Hebrew word may mean either “spirit” or “wind.” If this verse is interpreted in light of “the spirit of the kings of the Medes” (verse 11), then the meaning here would be “I will stir up someone to destroy Babylon.” Either interpretation is acceptable.
As the Revised Standard Version note indicates, the inhabitants of Chaldea is its rendering of a cryptic expression in Hebrew, which is transliterated “Leb-qamai,” but which is literally “the heart of those who rise up against me.” This is the same kind of cipher that is found in 25.26, where the letters of one name, counted from the beginning of the alphabet, are exchanged for corresponding letters counted from the end. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project proposes rendering “the heart of my enemies,” with a note indicating that this designates the Chaldeans (Babylonians). Thus the verse could be rendered “I am sending someone [or, a wind] to destroy the Babylonians who are the very heart of my enemies.”
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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