complete verse (Romans 10:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 10:19:

  • Uma: “Also let us not say/think like this: ‘The Israel people did not understand God’s purpose to give salvation [goodness] to mankind.’ They did understand it! First of all, there is the Word of God that was announced by the prophet Musa, it sounds like this: ‘You Jews, I will make you jealous when you see my love to people who are not Jews. You will be irritated/angry [lit., your hearts will be little]at them seeing my care/watching-over people who did not know me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I have another question: Didn’t the nation Isra’il understand that the nations not Yahudi belong to God also? They indeed really understood. Musa was the first who answered. God caused him to write his words, God said, ‘I will heed/pay-attention-to the people not Yahudi, the people of whom you say that they are a nation/tribe without use. So then you (pl.) will be jealous and you will be angry because I heed/pay-attention-to people who do not know me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And it might be that we (incl.) are thinking mistakenly that the descendants of Israel have not understood what was preached to them. However, they have already understood it before, because there’s a written word of God long ago to them by means of the word of Moses in which he says, ‘I will cause you Jews in the future to be jealous of my helping the people who are not my chosen ones. And I will make it so that you become angry because of my pitying the people who long ago did not know who I am,’ he said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “One other question: Is it maybe possible that they didn’t understand what they heard? They indeed understood, because even the Gentiles, they were able-to-understand-it. Here is what God said to the Jews which Moses wrote saying, ‘I will make-you -jealous on account of collective-people that you despise. I will make-you -angry on account of collective-people who know nothing concerning me.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “So then, didn’t the Jews understand in their hearts about the word which was told to them? But other people understood in their hearts about the word they were told. In past days Moses said: ‘God will save the people who are not Jews in order that the Jews will be jealous of those who are saved. They will be angry because the people who do not have intelligence are the ones who encountered the blessings of God.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

For the Old Testament quote, see Deuteronomy 32:21.

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

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 Romans 10:19

In Greek the expected answer to Paul’s question, Did the people of Israel not know?, is “Yes, they did know.” Paul is saying that Israel not only heard the message (v. 18) but that they were capable of understanding it. However, as he points out from Deuteronomy 32.21, the people of Israel will be put to shame because they failed to believe, though the Gentiles did believe. In the passage in Deuteronomy, God, not Moses, is the speaker. The same thing is true concerning the passage quoted from Isaiah in the two following verses.

The introductory rhetorical question may be changed into a statement—for example, “The people of Israel certainly did know.”

Jealous of a people may be expressed in some languages as “jealous because of a people.” Jealousy is often expressed in rather idiomatic terms—for example, “to burn in your hearts,” “not to want to look at,” or “to see with dark eyes.”

Since in the quotation of verse 19 Moses is represented as speaking on behalf of God (I certainly refers to God), it may be necessary in some languages to introduce the direct quotation in such a way that this relation is clear—for example, “Moses himself, speaking for God, is the first one to answer.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .