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 Jeremiah 32:24

Behold: See 1.6. Here translators can say “So, look. Now the Babylonians….”

Siege mounds have come up to the city to take it: Siege mounds are apparently in a position where the enemy can easily attack the wall. In many languages it will be impossible to refer to inanimate objects such as siege mounds doing anything on their own. Good News Translation has “The Babylonians have built siege mounds around the city to capture it.” If siege mounds (see 6.6) need further description, translators can also express the meaning of the sentence as “The Babylonians have built mounds around the city so they can attack it and capture it.”

Because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans: For sword as the equivalent of “war” (Good News Translation), see 5.12. Sword and famine and pestilence first occur as a unit at 14.12. Rather than using these impersonal terms, translators may find it better to say “Because the people will suffer from war, famine [or, starvation] and disease, the Babylonians will be able to capture the city.” As elsewhere in this passage, Chaldeans can be rendered by “Babylonians.” See 21.4.

What thou didst speak has come to pass, and behold, thou seest it: In Good News Translation the order of clauses is changed (“You can see that all you have said has come true”). Jerusalem Bible renders “What you have said is now fulfilled, as you see,” and New Jerusalem Bible is still clearer with “What you said has now come true, as you see.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .