gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Numbers 14:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 14:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “If you really kill all your people, these people of these countries who have heard how you show yourself will say,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If you kill the whole community without keeping a single one alive, the nations, hearing [of] your matter will talk, speaking like this,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Now, if you (sing.) will-kill these people for one time only, the nations who have-heard about your (sing.) fame will-say,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “If you kill these people all at one time, the people-groups who have heard about your power will say,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.

Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”

In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.

Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).

In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Translation commentary on Numbers 14:15

This verse introduces what other nations will say if the LORD kills his people.

Now if thou dost kill this people as one man: Now if renders the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”). However, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and most other translations render it as a conditional connector here for naturalness. For this people, see verse 11. Good News Translation renders as one man as “all” in the phrase “all your people,” but this rendering misses the sense in the Hebrew here. New Revised Standard Version expresses it better with “all at one time,” and so does Bible en français courant with has “in one hit.” Rashi explained it as meaning “suddenly.” Many Bantu languages will have an ideophone that can express this idea dramatically.

Then the nations who have heard thy fame will say: Instead of the nations, Contemporary English Version has “the Canaanites,” which is too specific (see 13.29; 14.25). The Hebrew word for fame (shemaʿ) can mean “what is heard,” “news,” or “report.” In this context it should be understood as something positive, which some translations make explicit by rendering thy fame as “your renown” (Levine), “your reputation” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nije Fryske Bibeloersetting), or “all your great deeds” (Parole de Vie). The Septuagint reads “your name,” which presumably has a positive meaning as well. Moses says the other nations had already heard about the LORD’s great reputation, but now if he kills his people, they will hear that the LORD is not able to live up to this reputation. In his pleading with the LORD, Moses focuses on the LORD’s own reputation with the nations, a reputation of supreme power. If he now destroys the Israelites, this reputation will be damaged and the nations will question whether the god of the Israelites has any real power. In the rest of the Old Testament the Hebrew word shemaʿ usually refers to a strong reputation of power, which inspires fear in others. However, New International Version gives a negative meaning to your fame by saying “this report [in verse 12] about you.” Similar renderings are “these reports about you” (Revised English Bible) and “such a rumor about you” (Luther). If shemaʿ is understood in this way, the clause here loses its point somewhat and does not focus on a change in the LORD’s reputation: what the other nations have heard is simply that the LORD has destroyed his people. This sense may even give the wrong suggestion that there will be nations who have heard the report (in verse 12), and other nations who have not heard about it. La Nouvelle Bible Segond does not choose a positive or negative meaning here by rendering this whole clause as “the nations who have heard [what is] spoken about you will say,” which is an acceptable model.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .