God's anger, wrath of God

The Hebrew and Greek What is translated into English as “the wrath of God” (Good News Translation: “God’s anger”) has to be referred to in Bengali as judgment, punishment or whatever fits the context. In Bengali culture, anger is by definition bad and can never be predicated of God. (Source: David Clark)

In Kikuyu the whole phrase that is translated in English as “storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath” or similar is translated as “you are increasing for yourself God’s wrath.” (Source: Jan Sterk)

In Quetzaltepec Mixe it is translated with a term “that not only expresses anger, but also punishment” (source: Robert Bascom), in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “the coming punishment of God on mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), in Kankanaey as “God’s fearful/terrible future punishing of people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation), in Tagbanwa as “the coming anger/hatred of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation), and in Tenango Otomi as “the punishment which will come” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation).

See also anger.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 17:4

Your hand is literally “and in you” (Revised Standard Version footnote). Good News Translation translates the Hebrew “You will have to let loose in you” as “You will have to give up” with a footnote that the Hebrew is unclear. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch follows the same interpretation as Good News Translation, though without including a note. A slightly different way to express this is “You will lose possession” or “The land I gave to you to possess will be taken from you.” But the active sentence of Good News Translation, “You will have to give up,” is often clearer for readers.

Your heritage, as elsewhere (see 2.7), can be “your land” or, in combination with which I gave you, “your land I gave you to possess.”

A land which you do not know is rendered “a land you know nothing about” by Good News Translation and “an unknown foreign land” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (see 15.14).

For in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn for ever: See 15.14 for a discussion of this clause. In place of a fire is kindled (following several Hebrew manuscripts), the Masoretic Text has “you [plural] kindled a fire.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the second person masculine plural form, although elsewhere in this verse “you” is second masculine singular. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Since you [singular] have kindled my wrath as a fire….”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .