The Hebrew that is translated as “shelter” or “refuge” or similar in English is translated in Vidunda as “place to run to.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
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.
Translation commentary on Isaiah 25:4
The connector For introduces the third reason for giving thanks to Yahweh. Not only has Yahweh done wonders (verse 1b) and destroyed the fortresses of nations (verse 2), he has also defended the poor and disadvantaged. Revised English Bible understands the Hebrew word rendered For as an emphatic particle, so it has “Truly.” Good News Translation omits it. It is best to render it as a logical connector here.
Thou hast been a stronghold to the poor: Here Yahweh is described metaphorically as a stronghold for poor people. A stronghold is a place of refuge (see the comments on 17.10, where the Hebrew word here is rendered “refuge”). This noun may be rendered as a verb by translating the whole line as “you have protected the helpless.” The poor is a collective expression, so it may be made plural. There is a wordplay in Hebrew between this line and the previous verse: Yahweh has been the stronghold (maʿoz) of the powerless, against the “strong nations” (ʿam-ʿoz).
A stronghold to the needy in his distress is parallel to the previous line. The needy person is someone in need of help and protection. The needy is another collective expression like the poor, so it may also be rendered as a plural. These expressions refer to both males and females here (see 14.30, where they occur together for the first time in this book). Distress may be translated “trouble” (so Good News Translation).
A shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. These are two other metaphors for Yahweh’s protection of those in need. He protects them like a shelter during a storm and like a shady place in a hot area. The following lines explain these metaphors further. See 4.6, where the same imagery is used. The Hebrew noun for storm (zerem) seems to be part of a wordplay between this verse and the next one, where the Hebrew words for “aliens” (zarim) and “song” (zemir) are similar in spelling.
For the blast of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall: The connector for introduces why the poor need protection. Blast is literally “wind.” It is a metaphor for the severe attack of cruel powerful people against the poor who cannot defend themselves. Some languages may need to use a nonfigurative expression for the blast of the ruthless; for example, “the attack from ruthless/cruel people.” Their attack is like a storm against a wall. Good News Translation emends Masoretic Text here to read “like a winter storm” (also New Jerusalem Bible). Similar renderings are “like an icy storm” (Revised English Bible), “As with cold rain” (New American Bible), and “like a winter rainstorm” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). However, the textual evidence argues against this change, so we agree with Hebrew Old Testament Text Project that translators should keep the reading in Masoretic Text, as in Revised Standard Version.
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• For you have been a protection for the poor,
a refuge for the needy when they are troubled,
a shelter from the storm and shade from the heat;
for the attack from cruel people is like a rainstorm beating against the wall, ….
• For you, Yahweh, have protected the poor
and have been a safe haven for the needy in trouble,
a shelter from storms and shade from heat;
for the wind blast from cruel people is like a storm battering a wall, ….
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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