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 21:11 - 21:12

The evil plans and plots of the enemies of the king will not succeed (verse 11). It will be better in most translations to say specifically “Your enemies” or “The king’s enemies” instead of they, which could be taken by the reader to refer to “their offspring … their children” of verse 10.

The first verb in verse 11 in Hebrew (Revised Standard Version plan) means “to stretch out, extend, direct toward,” in the sense of directing a plot against someone; the second verbal phrase (devise mischief) is the same as the one used in 10.2b (“schemes … devised”). Plan evil in line a is matched by the synonymous devise mischief in line b. In modern English mischief rarely carries the implication of something evil or destructive; it is normally synonymous with “trick” or “prank,” whereas here the meaning is more serious, “wicked plan.” Revised Standard Version makes the two lines in verse 11 conditional; the translator may prefer to follow the Good News Translation, which presents the actions as facts, things actually done (so New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible).

They plan evil is difficult to render clearly in that form because it is not indicated what the evil refers to. Therefore in many languages it will be necessary to say “they think of evil things to do against him,” or idiomatically, “their minds give birth to bad things they can do to him.”

Devise mischief must sometimes be rendered as “they think up ways to injure him.”

Succeed is sometimes rendered idiomatically as “seeing goodness” or “touching happiness.”

In verse 12 Good News Translation has reversed the two lines for easier understanding. Put them to flight translates what is literally “you will place their back,” that is, in flight. New English Bible translates differently: “you will catch them round the shoulders.”

Bows translates the word “bow strings,” a meaning the Hebrew word has here only; elsewhere it means tent ropes. Good News Translation has chosen to say “shoot his arrows” as being more natural and clearer than aim … your bows. It may be that the psalmist means the enemies turn and run when they see the king aiming his arrows at them (so New International Version); but it seems more natural to take the phrase to mean that they run when he actually shoots his arrows. (Of course it is implied that the king’s warriors are all shooting arrows, not the king alone; but it seems better to stay with the literal form of the text here.)

It is not necessary to represent the literal aim at their faces; New Jerusalem Bible is somewhat ludicrous with its rendering: “you will make them turn tail, by shooting your arrows in their faces.”

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 .