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 Maccabees 4:31

So do thou hem in this army by the hand of thy people Israel: The connector So is not expressed in the Greek text; Good News Bible‘s “in the same way” is unnecessary. “Now” (Contemporary English Version) alone is sufficient to connect this verse with the preceding one. Hem in is more accurate than simply “defeat” (Good News Bible). Translators could say “surround,” but that is really not what Judas is saying. He wants to “corner” his enemies, that is, get them in a position where they cannot escape, whether literally surrounded or not. An alternative model for this whole clause is “Now please allow us, your people Israel, to force the enemy into a position where they cannot escape us.”

And let them be ashamed of their troops and their cavalry: Good News Bible says “Put them to shame, in spite of all their confidence in their infantry and cavalry,” but this rendering shifts the focus too much. Goldstein translates “and let them be disappointed by their infantry and cavalry,” which is better. Part of the problem here is that versions seem to speak of the army on the one hand and someone else—the people back in Syria?—on the other. Yet no one is involved here but the army itself. They themselves are the ones who will be humiliated. The sense could be conveyed simply by saying “Humiliate their great army [or, all their foot soldiers and cavalry]!”

Alternative models for this verse are:

• Now please allow us, your people Israel, to force the enemy into a position where they cannot escape us. Please humiliate all their foot soldiers and cavalry.

• … Please make their foot soldiers and cavalry [or, soldiers on horseback] lose much face.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.