Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“answer”)

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) 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, kotae-rare-ru (答えられる) or “answer” is used.

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

Translation commentary on John 6:70

This verse may be punctuated various ways, for example “Didn’t I choose the twelve of you, even though one of you is a devil?” or “I chose the twelve of you, didn’t I? And yet one of you is a devil.” or “… yet one of you is a devil!” The different ways of punctuating the reply of Jesus do not affect the meaning essentially.

One of you is a devil is what the Greek text has, and that is clearly what it means. Phillips‘ translation “one of you has the devil in his heart” weakens the expression. Perhaps he is attempting to harmonize this statement with 13.2 and 13.27. The latter passage states that Satan entered into Judas. However, one should let this verse say what it says and not attempt to harmonize it with what is said later. Here the statement is simply that Judas is a devil.

Some languages present a difficulty in translating one of you is a devil, since they lack a definite term for “devil.” However, they often have a term for “demon,” and the devil is frequently spoken of as “the chief of demons.” In this context it may be satisfactory to say “one of you is a chief over demons” as the closest natural equivalent of “devil.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .