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 2 Chronicles 6:32

Verses 32-33 present a fifth situation in which someone may turn to God in prayer. In Hebrew it begins with the common conjunction followed by the adverb that denotes the addition of something. Elsewhere this adverb is sometimes translated “also.” Together these two words are rendered Likewise in Revised Standard Version and “Moreover” in King James Version. While Good News Translation and several other modern versions do not translate these two Hebrew words, there seems to be no convincing reason to omit them since the author is specifically giving another example.

When a foreigner, who is not of thy people Israel …: The Hebrew word rendered foreigner is not the word that refers to foreigners living within Israel. The Hebrew noun here refers to someone (a non-Israelite) who lives in another country. In some cases it may be considered redundant to say that a foreigner is not of thy people Israel, so these two expressions may be combined, as Good News Translation has done. Also, the singular word foreigner is used collectively and may be better translated as a plural in many languages (so Good News Translation).

An individual who comes from a far country or those who collectively leave their own home countries are described as making the journey to the land of Israel because of what they have heard about Yahweh.

For the sake of thy great name may be rendered “because they have heard of your greatness.” The two expressions that follow, and thy mighty hand, and thy outstretched arm, refer to the mighty acts or the powerful deeds of God which have made his name famous even among non-Israelites. Some other ways of translating these three expressions are “having heard of your glorious name and the power with which you act” (Bible en français courant) and “because of your great fame, of your powerful hand and your great interventions” (La Bible des Communautés Chrétiennes).

When he comes and prays toward this house: See the comments on verse 20.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .