complete verse (Leviticus 19:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 19:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “When you (plur.) reach that land and plant any tree/plant that produces fruits, do not pluck (it) until three years have finished.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “’If you plant a fruit tree, having gone into the land, the fruit will be forbidden for three years. do not eat it for three years. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When you (plur.) arrive/reach the land which I will-give to you (plur.), [you (plur.)] do- not -eat the fruit (plur.) of the trees which you (plur.) have-planted for the first three years. You (plur.) are-to-consider this dirty/unclean.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘hen you enter the land that I have promised to give to you, and when you plant various kinds of fruit trees, you must not eat any of their fruit for three years.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (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 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 19:23

Verses 23-25 describe the situation of a sedentary people involved in the cultivation of the land. Since Israel was still on the way to the promised land, it may be necessary in some languages to use the future tense in this paragraph in order to distinguish it from the rest of the chapter (where the imperative may have been used).

The land: it will be wise in many languages to make this more explicit by naming “the land of Canaan,” as in Good News Translation and Bible en français courant.

Trees for food: one should be careful not to give the impression that the trees themselves are eaten for food. It is rather the fruit of the trees that will be eaten. Some may prefer to translate “trees which will bear fruit to be eaten” or something similar.

Three years: many trees require a period of several years before they begin to bear fruit. The three-year prohibition against eating their fruit began at the time that they started to produce, not from the time that they had been planted.

Forbidden: literally “uncircumcised” (compare King James Version). This is a rather curious use of the term normally used to describe non-Israelite people. But it serves here as a strong way of emphasizing that the fruit is to be completely avoided by the people of God for a period of three years. It is very unlikely that any modern language can use the same image to communicate the intended meaning naturally. It will be much wiser to translate forbidden as in Revised Standard Version, or “ritually unclean” as in Good News Translation.

It must not be eaten: this further clarifies the meaning of the above. But it will have to be transformed from a passive to an active sentence in many languages. The simplest way to do this is probably to say “You [Israelites] must not eat it.”

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 .