form of address between the persons of the Trinity

In Hindi a differentiation is made between the way that the different persons of the Trinity are addressed by a regular person or by another person of the Trinity. When Jesus addresses God the Father or when God the Father addresses Jesus, a familiar form of address is used, unlike the way that any of them would be addressed with a honorific (pl.) form by anyone else.

Source: C.S. Thoburn in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 180ff.

complete verse (Matthew 11:26)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 11:26:

  • Uma: “because thus is your will, Father.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Yes, Father, I really praise you because this is your wish/will.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason I thank you is because you did this in this way because it was your desire because of your kindness.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And you (sing.) did this, Father, because that (concessive particle) is what you (sing.) wanted to be done.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “This is true, Father, for it’s what you determined which is your will.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Thus you did my Father because this is what you determined to happen.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Matthew 11:26

Yea is an old form of “yes.” Barclay has “Yes, indeed, Father.” Of course, “Yes, my Father” will be better in some languages.

For such was thy gracious will represents the formal transfer of a Semitic expression, as does the alternate translation in the RSV footnote, “so it was well-pleasing before thee.” Several modern translations attempt a natural equivalent: “for that is what it pleased you to do” (New Jerusalem Bible), “You have graciously willed it so” (New American Bible), and “So you willed it to happen” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Other possibilities include “Yes, Father, because that was what you chose to do,” “… what you wanted,” and “… what you had decided to do.” Gracious is not specifically rendered in these models, for probably it does not need to be, since here it is really just a marker of the polite formality needed to address God. There have been translators who have used a sentence such as “for as God, this was what it pleased you to have happen.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .