complete verse (Romans 10:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 10:21:

  • Uma: “Yet as for the Israel people, God says like this: ‘All day long I offer my hand wanting to receive them, but they just rebel and their hearts are always hard.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But if it is about the people of Isra’il, this is what Isaya said, ‘God says, ‘I am always persuading/pleading with people not listening to me, people whose heads are hard (stubborn, rebellious).’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There’s also something God says by means of the words of Isaiah concerning the people who are descendants of Israel, where he said, ‘Their breath is very hard (they are very stubborn) and they were very disobedient, because I am always begging them to believe in me, but they will not listen.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But what he says concerning the Jews is this: ‘For-a-long-time I have repeatedly-called a collective-people who don’t obey me and whose minds are hard.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But concerning the Jews God said: ‘Day after day I called to these Jews. But they do not want to hear (= obey) the word I say.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

For the Old Testament quote, see Isaiah 65:2.

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 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”.

Translation commentary on Romans 10:20 – 10:21

These verses come from Isaiah 65.1-2. The intent of verse 20 is to show how the Gentiles came to God, while the purpose of verse 21 is to remind the people of Israel of how they rejected God despite his pleas to them.

As in the case of verse 19, it may be essential to introduce Isaiah as speaking “on behalf of God.” Only in this way can the reader properly understand who I is.

The verb found must be understood in the sense of “discovered,” with the meaning of “discovered without looking for.”

In the opening statement of verse 21, it is possible to introduce God as the speaker—for example, “But he tells us that God says concerning Israel.”

If, as is often the case, adjectives such as disobedient and rebellious must be translated as verbs (for example, “to disobey” and “to rebel against”), it may be necessary to have some type of goal—for example, “All day long I held out my hands to a people who disobey me and who rebel against me.”

In some languages the expression I held out my hands may have little or no meaning. In fact, it might mean “I was begging from them,” obviously a wrong meaning. An appropriate equivalent in some languages is “I offered peace to,” “I sought to be reconciled with,” or “I sought to reconcile people to me.”

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 .