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 66:10 - 66:11

The psalmist recounts the difficult times the people of Israel have experienced; in all things, whatever happens to Israel is the result of God’s will for his people. The psalmist compares those harsh events to the process by which silver is refined, that is, the impurities are removed (see 12.6); the purpose of God in subjecting his people to trials and hardships was to purify them.

As silver is tried will be translated according to the familiarity with this metal and with the refining of metals. Where refining is known but silver is not, another known metal may be substituted. If refining is not known, it is possible to expand the description slightly; for example, “you have put us to the test as a precious metal is melted by fire in order to clean it.” Or a supplementary note may be included, such as “Some metals were heated until they melted into a liquid so that the impure parts could be removed.”

In verse 11 there is uncertainty concerning the two nouns net and affliction. The first one means in some instances a hunter’s net or trap (Ezek 12.13; 17.20); in other places it means “stronghold, fortress” (see 18.2; 31.2, 3). In line with the latter meaning, some take the word here to mean “dungeon, prison” (Weiser, New International Version); but most commentators and translators prefer “net.”

In verse 11b affliction (Good News Translation “heavy burdens”) translates a word found only here in the Old Testament; the Septuagint translates “afflictions”; Holladay defines it “misery, hardship”; the Targum translates “chains” (so Oesterley, Bible de Jérusalem). New Jerusalem Bible has “trammel” (a kind of net); Dahood has “ulcers”; An American Translation “heavy load” (similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Since this affliction is something that God laid on the people, the best choice seems to be “heavy loads,” an appropriate thing to be placed on a person’s back.

Verse 11 should not be understood to mean (as Good News Translation might imply) that God, after catching his people in a trap, laid heavy burdens on their backs. Lines a and b are two different ways of referring to difficulty and suffering.

Good News Translation “our backs” translates what is literally our loins. The translator should use the expression most suitable to the language and habits of the people.

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 .