soul

The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that is translated as “soul” in English is translated in Chol with a term that refers to the invisible aspects of human beings (source: Robert Bascom).

The Mandarin Chinese línghún (靈魂 / 灵魂), literally “spirit-soul,” is often used for “soul” (along with xīn [心] or “heart”). This is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32, see also Clara Ho-yan Chan in this article )

See also heart, soul, mind.

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 Psalm 116:8 - 116:9

In these verses the psalmist relates how Yahweh saved him; they are similar to 56.13. Good News Translation uses the third person of address in verse 8 in order to keep it consistent with verse 9. No particular significance in terms of intensity or logic seems intended in the sequence death … tears … stumbling. In Hebrew the one verb “save, deliver” (see 6.4a) in line a governs the three objects in lines a, b, c, soul … eyes … feet. The noun translated stumbling in line c occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament only in 56.13. Here, as there, it may mean death (so Bible en français courant “the fatal slip”). Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible consider “my nefesh from death” in line a to be a later addition; New English Bible, on the basis of the Syriac, omits “my eyes from tears,” but there is no good reason to depart from the Masoretic text (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy expresses lines a through c as two additional reasons to verse 7b for the statement in verse 7a; that is, “because he has freed me from death, because he has freed me from crying and falling,” a structure which other translators may wish to consider.

In verse 9 to walk before the LORD means to live one’s life conscious of his will, “to live obediently before Yahweh” (Anderson). So Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I will be obedient to the Lord.” Bible en français courant has “I will walk under the Lord’s surveillance.” Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, and Zürcher Bibel translate the verb as a present tense, I walk; many, however, take the verse to be a promise and translate the verb as future (New Jerusalem Bible, Dahood, An American Translation, New American Bible, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). In many languages a literal rendering of walk before the LORD will mean nothing more than to pass on foot in front of the LORD. Accordingly this expression must be avoided in favor of one explicitly referring to “living” or “existing.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I want to remain in the land of the living and to go on living close to you.” Land of the living is in contrast to Sheol, the land of the dead, and can be expressed in some languages as “in this world where people live.”

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 .