11This also is yours: I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due, whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the elevation offerings of the Israelites; everyone who is clean in your house may eat them.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 18:11:
Kupsabiny: “Also all the gifts that are raised up which the people of Israel give to me shall be yours. I have given them to be yours forever in all the coming days. You should allow for every clean person in your home to eat those things.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The offerings that are set aside from all the wave offerings that the Israelites bring to offer to me, these will also be yours. I have given this to you and your sons and daughters as your eternal share. All members of your household who have been ceremonially cleaned can eat this. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The other still offerings of the Israelinhon which are-lifted-up in the altar are also for you (plur.). I (am) giving these to you (sing.) and to your (sing.) descendants as your (sing.) share/portion forever/[lit. until whenever]. Anyone in your (sing.) family who is-considered clean can-eat them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘he priests lift up high the sacred offerings while they are standing in front of the altar. All of those offerings that the Israelis offer to me belong to you and your sons and daughters. They will always be your share. All the members of your family who have performed the rituals to cause them to be acceptable to me are permitted to eat from these offerings.” (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.
This verse turns to offerings that are given to female as well as male descendants of Aaron, which is probably why Good News Bible and other translations start a new paragraph here.
This also is yours …: The demonstrative pronoun This points forward to the offerings mentioned in this verse. Also renders the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”) at the beginning of this verse. Good News Bible renders it “In addition,” which may be a more natural transition in some languages. The Hebrew pronoun for yours is singular, referring again to Aaron (and his descendants by implication here). Good News Bible moves This … is yours to the end of the first sentence in this verse, saying “shall be yours,” which other languages may find helpful.
The offering of their gift: The Hebrew word for offering is terumah. As noted in verse 8, this word has a wide, general meaning of “contribution” or “gift.” However, its combination here with their gift causes some difficulty of interpretation, and various possibilities have been suggested. Good News Bible renders this whole phrase as “special contributions,” and Contemporary English Version has “special gifts.”
All the wave offerings of the people of Israel: For wave offerings, which is better rendered “elevation offerings” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society Version, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling), see 6.20. New Revised Standard Version renders this phrase and the previous one as “whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the elevation offerings of the Israelites,” which is a helpful model. Good News Bible has “any other special contributions that the Israelites present to me.” These two phrases may be in apposition to each other, which we prefer (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible); they may refer to two distinct offerings (so King James Version with “the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel”); or the second one may be a type of the first one (for example, “any other special contributions, including the elevation offerings that the Israelites present to me”).
I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due: In this context your sons and daughters may be rendered “all your descendants, both male and female.” For perpetual due, which Good News Bible renders “for all time to come,” see verse 8.
Every one who is clean in your house may eat of it: Every one who is clean refers to anyone who is ritually pure. For the Hebrew word rendered clean, see 5.28. Your house refers to Aaron’s extended family. For this figurative use of the word house, see 1.2. New Living Translation provides a helpful model for this sentence, saying “Any member of your family who is ceremonially clean may eat of these offerings.”
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 .
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