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 7:15 - 7:16

Here the psalmist describes how the evil that people plan to do to others recoils on its authors (see 5.10). A man digs a pit for someone else to fall into, and then he falls in it himself; see 9.15; 35.7-8; 57.6; Ecclesiastes 10.8. Good News Translation has used the more general figure of being caught in a trap that has been set to catch others, since that is more readily understood.

Pit and hole are synonyms.

In cultures where animals are caught by causing them to fall into holes dug in the ground, the Hebrew figure will serve very well. However, it will often be necessary to indicate the sequence, that is, first digging the pit and then the digger falling in it. It is also necessary in some languages to indicate the purpose; for example, “wicked people first dig a hole to catch other people, and later they themselves fall into that hole.”

The idea is repeated for emphasis in different terms in verse 16; literally His mischief (same word in verse 14b) and his violence act like a boomerang and return to hurt him. Good News Translation has avoided head and pate (the latter is today almost obsolete), preferring to use the pronoun “they.” Another possibility is to have “on himself” in line a and “on his head” in line b (see New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). It is often unnatural to have an abstract expression such as His mischief as the instrument or means of “punishment.” This idea must often be recast to say “they do evil things, and these very things cause them to suffer” or “because they do evil deeds their own deeds make them suffer.”

Some languages can keep the form of the Hebrew metaphor mischief returns upon his own head. The following parallel line, however, is even more difficult. On his own pate his violence descends must often be recast if it is to make sense. Violence must often be expressed as a verb or handled as an attributive to an event; for example, “because they use great strength to injure people, they will be injured in the same way themselves” or “because they are people who force others….”

It is quite clear that the two lines of verse 16 are nearly identical in meaning. However, in Hebrew the word order is different, in that the verb returns occurs as the first word in line a and descends as the last word in line b. Thus line b, which repeats and emphasizes line a, does so by reversing the word order. The translator should seek equivalent poetic devices in the receptor language which will be stylistically pleasing and emphatic in their intention.

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 .

Translation commentary on Psalm 71:6

Using language that recalls 22.9-10, the psalmist declares that all his life, from his birth, he has known God’s protection and care. Line a in Hebrew is literally “Upon you I have depended from the womb.” It is doubtful that the psalmist meant to say that before he was born he already consciously trusted in God, as New Jerusalem Bible (“While yet unborn, I depended on You”) and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy (“while still in my mother’s womb I already depended on you”) seem to imply. Some languages will prefer an idiomatic rendering such as “Ever since I came out of my mother’s womb, I have placed my heart on you.”

In line b there is a word in Hebrew whose meaning is not certain; the line is literally “from my mother’s womb you gozi,” which in form is the participle of a verb otherwise unknown. Perhaps it means “cut off,” that is, the umbilical cord. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “you took me from my mother’s womb” (also New English Bible footnote). New Jerusalem Bible translates “You were my support,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “you have been my portion.” Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, and others follow the Septuagint and Vulgate. Several prefer to emend to ʾuzi “my strength.” Briggs prefers to emend to gohi (“who took me out”), as in 22.9. Revised Standard Version and New International Version translate as though the Hebrew were identical with 22.9a, which it is not. In light of the difficulty in determining the precise meaning of the Hebrew text, the translator may choose to follow New Jerusalem Bible and Good News Translation, “you have taken care of me…,” or else render as Revised Standard Version has done, that God acted as midwife at the psalmist’s birth.

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 .