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 21:8

Who is the subject (addressed in the second person) in verses 8-12? No one is named; in the second part of verse 9 “the LORD” is named, in the third person, and then the second person is resumed. Good News Translation has taken the second person to refer to the king, and so has “The king” in verse 8a (so Kirkpatrick, Briggs, Toombs, Taylor, and others; also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible). Revised Standard Version‘s use of you and your makes it clear that it takes the king to be the subject. Another way of making the king the subject is to change in verse 7 from the third person to the second person vocative, “You, O king,” and keep the second person in verses 8-12 (as Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has done). New Jerusalem Bible takes the second person to refer to Yahweh (so Anderson, Weiser, Dahood, Crim). The language in places seems more appropriate of Yahweh (especially the first part of verse 9, “when you appear”); but the switch to the third person in the second part of the verse (“The LORD will swallow them up”) has been taken by some to mean that “you” in the first part of verse 9 refers to the king. Bible en français courant takes the subject in verses 8-12 to be God, who is addressed, in verse 8, “O King, you….”

Hand and right hand seem to be used synonymously; but Dahood understands them to mean “left hand” and “right hand.” Your hand in reference to the power of the king is the expression of a part for the whole. In some languages it will be possible to maintain this imagery, either as “your hand” or “his hand,” while in other languages it will be preferable and less ambiguous to follow the lead of Good News Translation. The verb find out in both lines does not mean simply to discover, but to grab, to “capture” (New International Version has “lay hold on … seize”).

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 .