Canaan

The term that is transliterated as “Canaan” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign loosely referencing the act of hiding/covering one’s face in shame. The association of “shame” with the name “Canaan” comes from Genesis 9, specifically verse 9:25. This sign was adapted from a similar sign in Kenyan Sign Language (see here). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Canaan” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Canaan in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

complete verse (Leviticus 18:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 18:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “You must not do like those people of Egypt do and do not go and do what the people of Canaan do where I am going to take you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “It is not OK to act [lit.: do work] like the people of the land of Egypt where you used to live [lit.: lived formerly]. And it is also not OK to act like the people of Canaan, the land to which I am now about to take you. It is also not OK to observe their ritual practices.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) must not do what the people of Egipto do where you (plur.) used-to-live before, and what the people of Canaan do where I am- taking you (plur.)” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So you must do what I want you to do; you must not do the things that the people in Egypt, where you lived previously, do; and you must not do what is done by the people in Canaan, the land to which I am taking you. Do not imitate their behavior.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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 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”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Leviticus 18:3

Literally, this verse reads “As the action [deeds] of the land of Egypt where you lived in it you must not do, and as the action of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you there, you must not do. And the practices of them you must not follow.” The repetitive elements in this verse may be eliminated as in Good News Translation, if they are stylistically unacceptable in the receptor language. The Israelites are forbidden to imitate what they had seen in the past (in Egypt) or what they would see in the future (in Canaan). The Egyptians practiced intermarriage of near relatives, which is forbidden in verse 6. And Canaan often symbolizes sexual perversion in the Old Testament (see verse 22 and Gen 19.4-9). Rather they are to follow the rules set down for them by the LORD himself.

Walk: as in many other passages of Scripture, this verb is used to speak of conduct or behavior in general. A literal rendering of Revised Standard Version may be very misleading in many languages.

Statutes: in this context the word seems to refer more to the customs or practices of an alien culture than to any specific written law code. Hence the Good News Translation rendering “practices” (also found in New International Version and Moffatt). New American Bible reads “customs.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .