lion

There are no lions in Bawm country, so the Bawm Chin translation uses “a tiger with a mane” where the Greek term for “lion” is used and in Sranan Tongo the “roaring lion” in 1 Peter 5:8 is a krasi tigri, an “aggressive tiger.”

In the Kahua culture, lions are not known either so the Kahua translation used “fierce animal.”

In 1 Peter 5:8, the Uripiv translation uses “a hungry shark” instead of a roaring lion.

Sources: David Clark for Bawm Chin and Kahua, Japini 2015, p. 33, for Sranan Tongo, and Ross McKerras for Uripiv)

wild ox (unicorn)

The Hebrew that is translated in most English versions as “wild ox” was translated by the Ancient Greek Septuagint translation as μονόκερως (monókeros) or “unicorn.”

Bibles in the Protestant tradition also used an equivalent of that translation up into the early 20th century. This includes translations like the English King James Version/Authorised Version (unicorn), the German translation by Luther (up to and including the revision of 1912) (Einhorn), or the Swedish Charles XII Bible of 1686 (enhörningen).

Since translations of the Orthodox traditions tend to follow the Septuagint (see above), they also use an equivalent of “unicorn,” such as the Russian Synod translation with единорог (yedinorog).

Translations in the Catholic tradition tended to use an equivalent of “rhinoceros,” going back to the Latin Vulgate’s rinoceros. Modern Catholic translations that follow the Hebrew text now also use “wild ox” or an equivalent.

The influential Literary / Classical Chinese Delegates Version (publ. 1854) used sì (兕), a mythological Chinese creature that also only had one horn (see here ).

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 22:19 - 22:21

In these verses the psalmist once more pleads desperately with the LORD to save him from his enemies, whom he calls dog, lion, and wild oxen.

Verse 19a is practically the same as verse 11a. In verse 19b Revised Standard Version my help translates a word meaning “strength, power,” found nowhere else in the Old Testament. Good News Translation has failed to represent this phrase, which can be translated “My helper, come quickly to my rescue!” or “My helper, come quickly and rescue me!”

In verse 20a Deliver my soul (Good News Translation “Save me”) translates “save my nefesh” (see 3.2). The parallel in line b is the adjective used as a noun, “my only one,” which in parallel with “my nefesh” always refers to something like “the only life I will ever have”; so Revised Standard Version my life, as in 35.17. There is no need to imitate Revised Standard Version and provide the literal Hebrew phrase in a footnote. Some may have “the life that is precious to me.” New American Bible translates “my loneliness,” which it explains as “his desolate soul,” but this is not a good model to follow.

From the sword in verse 20a means “from violent death”; and verse 20b is literally “from the hand of the dog,” where “hand” means power. Dahood and New English Bible take the Masoretic text to mean “from (the blade of) the ax,” but this interpretation is not certain. Good News Translation has “these dogs,” and in verse 21 “these lions” and “these wild bulls,” to indicate that these are metaphors for cruel enemies, not animals.

Deliver my soul from the sword presents a particularly difficult set of problems for a translator. In many languages it is not possible to be saved from an inanimate object such as a sword. In these cases it may be possible to say, for example, “Don’t let my enemies kill me with their swords” or “Protect me from the swords of my enemies.” If the term sword is not familiar, it is better to say, for example, “Don’t let my enemies kill me.”

In verse 21 there is a parallel between the mouth of the lion and the horns of the wild oxen, both of them metaphors for the psalmist’s enemies.

In line b of verse 21 the Masoretic text is “and from the horns of the wild oxen you answered me.” Instead of the Masoretic text “you answered me,” the Septuagint, Syriac, and Jerome have translated as though the Hebrew text were “my oppressed (self),” without a verb in this line; so Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, An American Translation, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible; New English Bible has “my poor body.” But some stay with the Masoretic text, in the sense of “you defended me”–so Kirkpatrick.19-21 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project stays with the verb “to answer” (“B” decision) and says it can be translated “you will answer me” (an expression of confidence), or “answer me” (a prayer), or “you have answered me” (an expression of gratitude). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible separates it from the preceding words and makes it independent, as the beginning of the next section: “You have answered me!” Weiser and New Jerusalem Bible translate it as though it were an imperative, “Answer (or, Rescue) me!” Dahood has another way of handling the Masoretic text: “make me triumph.” It seems better to follow the Versions, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done, and it is preferable to join line b with line a as Revised Standard Version has done, as part of the psalmist’s plea, with the verb of line a carrying over into line b. In line with the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommendation, however, a translator may choose to follow the Masoretic text, taking the verb “to answer” in the sense of “to defend” or “to rescue,” as follows: “You have rescued (or, protected) me from the horns of the wild oxen.”

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 .