addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.

Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”

In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.

Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).

In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Translation commentary on 1 Kings 3:8

Solomon continues to refer to himself here and in verse 9 in the third person as thy servant. As subject of the sentence, it is more naturally rendered by the first person singular pronoun “I,” as in Bible en français courant and Contemporary English Version. But it will be noted that New Century Version retains the attitude of humility and submission by saying “I, your servant.”

Thy people whom thou hast chosen: The Hebrew verb rendered chosen does not indicate for what purpose God chose the Israelite people. Good News Translation and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje make this explicit by adding “to be your own [people],” in agreement with Deut 7.6 (“the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession”).

A great people: The Hebrew adjective translated great often refers to large quantities and means “much” or “many.” However, it may also mean great, without reference to quantity. The following words, however, clearly suggest that the sense here is “many in number.”

The two Hebrew verbs rendered numbered and counted are synonyms here, as also in 1 Kgs 8.5, and some common language translations express the two with one verb (so Good News Translation, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Bible en français courant).

For multitude: These words provide the reason or explanation why the people of Israel cannot be counted. It is because they are so many. This element may be shifted forward in translations so that the reason is given before the fact that the people are uncountable (so Good News Translation).

Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente provides a different model by reversing the order of the two main parts of this verse and by making explicit the sense of in the midst of thy people:

• The people whom you have chosen for yourself are so numerous that they cannot even be counted. And I find myself at the very head of this people!

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .