In Garifuna the second person singular pronoun (“you” in English) has two forms. One is used in women’s speech and one in men’s speech. In the Garifuna Bible the form used in men’s speech is typically used, except when it’s clear that a woman is quoted or in Psalms where the women on the translation team insisted that the form used in women’s speech (buguya) would be used throughout the whole book.
Ronald Ross (in Omanson 2001, p. 375f.) tells the story: “Throughout most of the translation, [the distinctions between the different forms of the pronouns] presented no problem. Whenever the speaker in the text was perceived as a man, the male speech forms were used; and when a woman was speaking, the female speech forms were used. True, the women members of the translation team did object on occasion to the use of the male forms when the author (and narrator) of a book was unknown and the men translators had used the male speech forms as the default. Serious discord arose, however, during the translation of the Psalms because of their highly devotional nature and because throughout the book the psalmist is addressing God. The male translators had, predictably, used the male form to address God, and the male form to refer to the psalmist, even though women speakers of Garifuna never use those forms to address anyone. The women contended that they could not as women read the Psalms meaningfully if God and the psalmist were always addressed as if the readers were men. The men, of course, turned the argument around, claiming that neither could they read the Psalms comfortably if the reader was assumed to be a woman.
“Initially there seemed to be no way out of this impasse. However a solution was found in the ongoing evolution of the language. There is a strong propensity for male speech and female speech to merge in favor of the latter, so the few remaining male forms are gradually dying out. Moreover, male children learn female speech from their mothers and only shift to the male speech forms when they reach adolescence to avoid sounding effeminate. However they use the female form buguya when addressing their parents throughout life. So the women wielded two arguments: First, the general development of the language favored the increasing use of the female forms. Secondly, the female forms are less strange to the men than the male forms are to the women, because the men habitually use them during early childhood and continue to use them to address their parents even in adulthood. Therefore, the female pronominal forms prevailed and were adopted throughout the book of Psalms, though the male forms remained the default forms in the rest of the translation.”
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff.) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff.)
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
See also this chapter in the World Atlas of Language Structures on different approaches to personal pronouns.
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.
As the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, the subject of the verbs in these verses is not specified; the Hebrew text says simply “If he does not turn, he will sharpen his sword”–and so to the end of verse 13. Weiser, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, and New Jerusalem Bible take the subject of verses 12-13 to be the wicked man himself, the enemy; so in these translations, in verse 12 the man gets ready to destroy, and in verse 13 his weapons turn against him and kill him. (New English Bible is not altogether clear, but seems to make God the subject of all the verbs in verses 13-14.) New International Version (with alternative in the footnote) takes God as the subject of all the verbs in verses 12-13, translating the initial verb, “If he does not relent.”
It seems best to do as most modern translations have done and take the first verb to refer to the wicked, “If they do not change their ways” (literally “turn”; see comments on 6.4), and the other verbs to refer to God. In translation it will often be necessary to avoid the use of an indefinite subject such as a man (Good News Translation “they”) and to say instead “wicked people.” Whether the “if” clause precedes or follows the result clause depends on the usage in the receptor language. Repent is frequently expressed in idiomatic terms; for example, “to change the heart,” “to have a new heart,” or “to walk a new path.”
Vivid figures are used of God getting ready to destroy the wicked: he will whet his sword; he has bent and strung his bow, that is, he is taking aim and is preparing to shoot his arrows (see similar language in 11.2). These expressions depicting offensive action imply a further action, that is, using the sharpened sword and the bent bow to fight the wicked enemy. In many languages such indirect and figurative statements are quite natural, but where there is no apparent connection in meaning, one may make the meaning clear by a purpose clause; for example, “God will sharpen his sword to attack evil people, if they do not repent; he will bend and string his bow to shoot the wicked people, if they do not change their evil ways.” Revised Standard Version has taken the Hebrew verb for “prepare” at the end of verse 12 in the sense of “stringing (the bow)”; New Jerusalem Bible has “he … aims it.” The same verb is used in verse 13a, where Good News Translation has “he takes up,” and Revised Standard Versionhe has prepared.
Deadly weapons refers to weapons which can cause death, and must sometimes be translated “weapons which kill people.”
The last line of verse 13 is literally “making his arrows into burning (darts).” Most understand this to reflect the practice in ancient warfare of wrapping inflammable material around the tip of the arrow, setting it on fire, and then discharging the arrow. Some, however, take the Hebrew verb to mean “sharpen” (instead of “make ablaze”); so New Jerusalem Bible “makes his arrows sharp.” In languages where bows and arrows are unknown, a more generic term such as “weapons” may be used. In those cases where weapons are unknown in the language, a descriptive phrase must be used; for example, “things people use to hurt other people.”
Biblia Dios Habla Hoy reverses the order of the two lines of verse 13 so as to have the line “he aims his flaming arrows” follow immediately after “he bends his bow” in verse 12b.
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 .
The psalm opens with a prayer for help; verses 1-3 are practically the same as 31.1-3a. For comments on In thee … do I take refuge, see 2.12. I take refuge can sometimes be rendered in a more active sense as “You protect me.”
For a similar translation of put to shame, see 6.10. If the passive is to be avoided, it will be necessary to introduce “enemies” as the agent of shame or defeat; for example, “don’t allow my enemies to defeat me.”
For righteousness in verse 2a, see comments on 5.8.
For incline thy ear in verse 2b, see 17.6.
In verse 3a the Masoretic text has “a rock a place”; some Hebrew manuscripts have “a rock of refuge,” which most translations follow.1-3 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project is of the opinion that the Masoretic text should be followed, even though it is not the original text. The ancient versions represent an assimilation to Psalm 31.2c and do not reflect the original text either. For the figures in verse 3, see 18.2; 31.2. In some languages it will be possible to maintain the figure rock of refuge, provided some adjustment is made; for example, “be like a rock to protect me” or “protect me as a rock protects a person who hides under it.”
In verse 3b the Masoretic text is “to come (or, go) always you have commanded to save me,” which is hard to understand. New English Bible, however, translates the Masoretic text “where I may ever find safety at thy call”; New Jerusalem Bible connects “to go always” with the preceding line, as follows: “Be a sheltering rock for me to which I may always repair,” followed by the imperative “decree my deliverance.” New Jerusalem Bible has “you have determined to save me”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New International Version are similar.1-3 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project also prefers the Masoretic text (“C” decision), which it translates “accessible always, you decided (to save me).” Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy follow the Septuagint and emend the text to a strong fortress (the plural form of the same word in verse 3c; see also 31.2). In some languages it may be possible to say in line b of verse 3 “be like a house with strong walls to protect me” or “protect me as a house with strong walls protects 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 .
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