serve (Igede)

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “serve,” “minister,” “walk with,” or “service” is translated in Igede as myị ẹrụ or “agree with message (of the one you’re serving).” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also serve.

complete verse (Acts 13:35)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 13:35:

  • Uma: “‘That is also the meaning of the words of Daud while he was praying, he said like this: ‘My body you (sing.) will not abandon in the grave until rotten, because I an your (sing.) servant that you (sing.) have chosen.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “In another verse in the holy-book Jabur it is also said, ‘You will not abandon your holy servant to decay.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was another prophecy of David which were the words of Jesus. He wrote this in the book of the Psalms, and he said, ‘As for me, your faithful servant, you will not permit that my body rots in the grave.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise of his, because there is also something-written that David said to God, ‘I am the one who is faithful to serve you (sing.). You (sing.) will not allow my body to rot.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And there is something else written in The Songs which says, ‘You will not leave my body to rot in the grave, I who always obey your will.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

For the Old Testament quotes, see Psalm 16:10 (from the Greek Septuagint).

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 16:10

Give me up translates “abandon my nefesh” (see comments at 3.2); and for Sheol see comments at 6.5. The psalmist is confident that Yahweh will keep him from dying prematurely.

Sheol may often be rendered “The place where dead people go.” However, the translator must be able to distinguish between this place and the local cemetery which may be in the mind of the reader.

The term godly one refers to the psalmist himself (see comments on “godly” in 4.3). It is also possible to translate “your loyal servant”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “your faithful friend.” Good News Translation uses a verbal phrase, “I have served you faithfully.” Some, however, take the term to be generic, a way of speaking of all of Yahweh’s faithful people. It seems best to take it as a reference to the psalmist. (New International Version “your Holy One” takes the Hebrew text to refer to Jesus Christ.)

The verb see means here, as often in the Bible, “to experience.”

The term Pit (see comments at 7.15; 9.15) is used synonymously with Sheol and is elsewhere also used of the world of the dead (see 30.9; 49.9; 103.4). The Septuagint translators mistakenly derived the word for Pit from the Hebrew verb meaning “to corrupt,” and this is why the passage means something quite different in the quotation in Acts 2.27. It should be noticed that both here and in verse 9a (“my tongue rejoices”), New International Version has forced the Hebrew text to conform to the meaning of the Septuagint, as quoted in Acts 2.25-26.

Good News Translation has restructured line b of this verse quite radically, due mainly to “I have served you faithfully” as a meaningful equivalent of what Revised Standard Version represents as thy godly one.

It is disputed whether or not the passage speaks of resurrection (as it is applied to Christ in Acts 2.25-28, 31; 13.35). Some scholars believe that it does; Dahood understands it to mean that the psalmist believes that, like Enoch and Elijah, he will go directly into the presence of God without having died. Others believe the text means that the psalmist has been kept from untimely, unexpected death. H. H. Rowley takes a mediating position, speaking of it as “a glimpse, rather than … a firm faith” (in the resurrection). Briggs believes that it means that the psalmist hopes that in Sheol itself he will still have Yahweh with him. Whatever the interpretation, the translation should be faithful to the text as it is: “You do not abandon me to Sheol, you do not allow your devoted (or, faithful) servant to go down to the grave (or, the world of the dead).”

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 .