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 Job 10:16

And if I lift myself up, thou dost hunt me like a lion: the Hebrew text is literally “And he lifts himself.” Interpreters have tried different ways to identify the subject of the first verb. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation understand that the verb should be in the first person and so follow the Syriac version. Lift myself up is understood by Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Good News Translation to refer to Job’s proud doings. New English Bible and Bible de Jérusalem translate “Proud as a lion.” Still other translations (Moffatt, Bible en français courant, New International Version) understand the first half of the line to mean “If I lift my head,” without making clear what such a gesture may mean, other than contrasting it with “when I lower my head” in the previous verse. It is not entirely clear from the text whether Job compares himself to a hunted lion, or compares God to a lion on the prowl. However, in view of 6.4, in which God’s arrows are shot into Job, it is probably best to assume that Job is here again the object of God’s hunting, and so now God is depicted as a prowling lion. Revised Standard Version‘s translation, as well as Good News Translation, “You hunt me down like a lion,” may mean either that God is a hunting lion, or that Job is the lion being hunted. It is best to avoid the ambiguity of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation by translating as Bible en français courant does: “As soon as I lift up my head, you are there taking up the hunt against me, like a lion” (similarly Moffatt and New International Version). We may also translate, for example, “If I do anything to be proud of, you become like a lion and hunt me down to destroy me.”

And again work wonders against me: this statement adds irony to Job’s words and translates what is literally “and again you show yourself wonderful through me.” The wonderful works of God’s creation mentioned in verses 8-11 are now wonderful works of torment. Good News Translation is quite right in expressing the purpose in the translation “to hurt me.” This line may also be rendered, for example, “You even do amazing things just to harm me” or “You make miracles to cause me to suffer.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .