complete verse (Numbers 27:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 27:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “Tell the Israelites that when a man dies not having a son, his daughters are to be given what their father should have received.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You are to speak to the Israelites like this, ‘If any man dies without a son, his inheritance will go to his daughter. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘And you (sing.) tell the Israelinhon that if a man dies without a male child, (it) must be-given to her female child his land.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘lso tell this to the Israeli people: ‘If a man who has no sons dies, give the things that his sons would have inherited to his daughters.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 Numbers 27:8

And you shall say to the people of Israel: The LORD is still speaking to Moses. This quote frame marks the start of the actual ruling on the daughters’ case, which is a quote within a quote. Good News Bible uses indirect discourse for this embedded quote here by beginning with “Tell the people of Israel that….” This model may be more natural in some languages, but perhaps it no longer marks a clear start of the actual ruling. In some languages (for example, Chewa) any formal ruling or legal decision must be given in direct speech, as in Hebrew.

If a man dies, and has no son, then …: Verses 8b-11 conform to the legal pattern of case (or casuistic) law as follows: an opening conditional statement, followed by more definite circumstances along with the action to be taken.

You shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter: The Hebrew verb rendered cause … to pass is the same one used in the previous verse, but this time it is plural since the people of Israel are being addressed. For the Hebrew word rendered inheritance (nachalah), see verses 4 and 7.

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 .