Pharaoh

The term that is used for monarchs in ancient Egypt and is transliterated as “Pharaoh” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying the “fake metal beard (postiche)” that was word by Pharaohs during official functions. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharaoh” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

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.

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

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 3 Maccabees 2:6

You made known your mighty power by inflicting many and varied punishments on the audacious Pharoah: This verse refers to the plagues that came on Egypt in Exo 7–12. You made known your mighty power may be rendered “You showed your mighty power” or “Your fearsome power was seen” (Contemporary English Version). By inflicting many and varied punishments on the audacious Pharaoh may be translated “when you punished … in many terrible ways” or “when you used many terrible things to punish….” There is a potential problem with the word Pharaoh. This word is a title of the ancient kings of Egypt. Translators who choose to translate it as “king of Egypt” here need to do something to distinguish this king from Philopator, the king of Egypt who is about to enter the Temple in this narrative. One way is to render the audacious Pharaoh as “Pharaoh, the proud king of Egypt.” Or we may say “the proud king of Egypt in ancient times.”

Who had enslaved your holy people Israel may be expressed as “who had made slaves of your people Israel.” Holy here means they “belonged to God.” So “your people” brings out this meaning.

Here are two models of this verse:

• You showed your mighty [or, fearsome] power when you punished in many terrible ways [or, used many terrible things to punish] that proud king of Egypt in ancient times for making slaves of your people the Israelites.

• The proud Pharaoh [or, king of Egypt in ancient times] made slaves of the Israelites, your holy people, but you showed how powerful you are by punishing him in many ways.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.