lion

There are no lions in Bawm country, so the Bawm Chin translation uses “a tiger with a mane” where the Greek term for “lion” is used and in Sranan Tongo the “roaring lion” in 1 Peter 5:8 is a krasi tigri, an “aggressive tiger.”

In the Kahua culture, lions are not known either so the Kahua translation used “fierce animal.”

In 1 Peter 5:8, the Uripiv translation uses “a hungry shark” instead of a roaring lion.

Sources: David Clark for Bawm Chin and Kahua, Japini 2015, p. 33, for Sranan Tongo, and Ross McKerras for Uripiv)

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 Isaiah 38:13

I cry for help until morning: I cry for help renders an emended text, which many translations follow (so RSV/NRSV, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Revised English Bible emends the Hebrew text differently to read “I am racked with pain” (similarly Good News Translation). But Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and de~Waard advise against adopting any such emendations. The Hebrew verb here means “I imagined” or “I thought,” which makes good sense in this context. This line may be rendered “I thought [or, pondered] until the morning” or “I thought all night.” It may be helpful to add a footnote that mentions the alternative readings.

Like a lion he breaks all my bones: Many Lament Psalms use the imagery of a lion to refer to serious problems experienced by people (see, for example, Psa 7.2; 10.9; 17.12). The pronoun he refers to God. The form of the Hebrew verb rendered breaks is emphatic, so “shatter” or “smash” expresses its meaning well. Hezekiah felt that just as a lion smashes the bones of its victims, so God dealt with him. God did not literally smash his bones, but caused him to have intense pain. If translators cannot keep the imagery here, this line may be rendered “The LORD made me suffer terribly.”

From day to night thou dost bring me to an end: This line is identical to the last line of the previous verse; see the comments there.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• I considered [or, pondered] until the morning:
he has shattered all my bones like a lion does.
The LORD brought me to an end constantly.

• I thought [about it] all night:
God has broken all my bones just like a lion would do.
Day in [and] day out God made an end of me.

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 .