fire and brimstone

The now commonly-used English idiom “fire and brimstone” (meaning fiery rhetoric or the threat of hell) was first coined in 1535 in the English translation by Miles Coverdale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 300)

For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.

pronoun for "God"

God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).

Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.

In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.

While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff.) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”

In Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of systems of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.

Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”

In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)

Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”

In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff.)

In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)

The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.

Some Protestant English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).

See also this chapter in the World Atlas of Language Structures on different approaches to personal pronouns.

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。

然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

Translation commentary on Psalm 11:6

The punishment that Yahweh sends (or, better, “will send,” with Revised Standard Version and others) is described as consisting of coals of fire (that is, live coals), brimstone (“burning sulfur”), and a scorching wind.

He will rain: “he will cause to come down (like rain)” (see also 78.24, 27). This expression may also be rendered “he will cause to fall like rain” or “he will cause the sky to send down.”

The first punishment in the Masoretic text is the plural of the word for “trap” (so Septuagint, Vulgate), which seems to be a scribal error for the plural of the word for “coal” (so Briggs), which is nearly the same in Hebrew. Therefore Briggs, Anderson, and others (Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New English Bible) correct the Hebrew text, following the Greek translation by Symmachus. But some translations like Revised Standard Version take the Masoretic text as though it meant “coals” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says that the Masoretic text means “snares” and has there the wider sense of “misfortunes.” It seems best to stay with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, “burning coals” or “flaming coals.” It should be remembered that coals refers to charcoal, not mineral coal.

Brimstone (or “burning sulfur”) is associated with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19.24-25). Sulfur is a yellow substance which burns with a great heat and produces an unpleasant smell; it is found in volcanic regions, either as a solid or as a gas. Fire and burning sulfur are used in the biblical descriptions of the destruction which God sends or will send on various nations and peoples (see Isa 30.33; 34.9; Ezek 38.22; Rev 14.10; 19.20; 20.10; 21.8). “Burning sulfur” may sometimes be rendered “flames which smell bad” or “yellow flames with bad odor.”

Scorching wind is a reference to the hot desert wind that kills plants (see 90.5-6; 103.15-16; Isa 40.6-7). People who live near major deserts usually have specific terms to describe hot winds which blow from the desert. Such winds may also be rendered “winds that scorch things,” “winds that dry things up,” or “winds that burn the plants.” The Hebrew word translated wind also means breath, spirit, or (God’s) Spirit, depending on the context. Here wind is meant. Scorching translates a word that is found only here, in 119.53, and in Lamentations 5.10.

The figure the portion of their cup means that which is allotted to a person by God, what that person receives as his or her destiny, or lot, in this life (see 16.5; 23.5; 75.8; Rev 14.10). It is never an impersonal destiny or fate, but God’s doing. It usually, but not always, refers to something unpleasant or painful. The portion of their cup must often be recast as a clause; for example, “that which God gives to them,” or idiomatically in some languages, “the way God cuts their affairs,” meaning God’s evaluation or judgment of their lives. Since the reference is to the destruction which God determines for their wickedness, the notion may sometimes be rendered, for example, “God cuts the affairs of the wicked with a scorching wind” or, in nonfigurative terms, “in the end God gives the wicked a burning wind.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .