witness

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated as “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca, as “telling the truth regarding something” (Eastern Highland Otomi), as “know something” in Lalana Chinantec, as “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, as “we ourselves saw this,” in Desano, as “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi, as “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 31:19

Now therefore write this song: for this song see verse 30 and 32.1-43. In Hebrew write is the second person plural, meaning that Moses and Joshua are to write down the song; but the other two verbs are singular. This makes for an awkward sentence, and only Osty-Trinquet, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and the le de Jérusalem follow the Hebrew. (In languages like English, that have no different endings to distinguish between the second person singular and the second person plural, a translation such as New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “write” will be read as second person singular.) Bible en français courant uses an impersonal form: “And now, the words of this song that I am going to dictate to you are to be written down.” New International Version attempts to preserve the Hebrew by translating “write down for yourselves this song and teach it”—but this is not natural, and “teach” will read as a plural form also. Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje uses the singular “write,” with a footnote indicating that the Hebrew text has the plural; this is one way to handle the matter. Another possible alternative is “I want you and Joshua to write down this song. Then you, Moses, are to teach it to….”

Teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths: these two commands say almost the same thing. A literal translation of the second command may sound funny in a number of languages. A possible alternative is “have them learn it by heart” or “… memorize it.”

That this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel: the song (32.1-43) is a recital of God’s dealings with the people of Israel, how he led them, provided for them, and protected them. So the song was a witness on God’s behalf whenever he would have to judge and punish the Israelites for forsaking him. See the same statement about the book of the law in verse 24. The Good News Translation translation “so that it will stand as evidence against them” may be difficult to translate in some languages. The longer version of Contemporary English Version may be a good alternative: “they will know what I warn them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .