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.

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

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 80:16 - 80:18

The psalmist closes with a final plea to God. The enemies have ruined the nation, and the psalmist asks God to destroy them.

Cut it down in verse 16a is taken by most to be from a verb meaning “to cut down,” but Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible take the form to be “like dung”: “They have thrown it on the fire like dung.” It is better to translate cut it down. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy reverses the two verbs as being a more natural order of events: “they (who) cut it and burn it.”

Most translations take verse 16b to refer to the enemies; some, however, instead of may they perish, translate “they perish,” that is, the Israelites themselves (Weiser, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version); this, however, seems unlikely. Rebuke of thy countenance or Good News Translation‘s “look at them in anger” must be recast in some languages where the sense of judgment is not conveyed by “angry looks.” In such cases verse 16b may be rendered, for example, “look at them and judge them” or “judge them and destroy them.”

Revised Standard Version gives the form of the Hebrew text in verse 17; the man in line a is parallel with the son of man in line b. The son of man here has the meaning “the human being.” Good News Translation interprets the man and the son of man as references to the nation of Israel (so Kirkpatrick, Cohen, McCullough, Weiser, Dentan). But some (Dahood, Toombs, Anderson, Briggs) take them to refer to the king (see Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, New Jerusalem Bible footnote); see 110.1, where the king is spoken of as at the right side of God. It is impossible to be dogmatic, and a personal reference may be intended. But the lack of mention of the king in the rest of the psalm may argue against this interpretation.

Let thy hand be upon means “Preserve and protect,” and of thy right hand means “the one you have chosen.” In the way in which Good News Translation has structured verse 17, line b does not repeat the verbs from line a. If the translator follows Good News Translation, it will be necessary in some languages to repeat the verbs from line a. It is also possible to say, for example, “Protect the people you have chosen, preserve the nation you made so strong.”

At the end of verse 17, for thyself may be the meaning intended by the Hebrew; New Jerusalem Bible, somewhat differently, translates the line “the one You have taken as Your own.” And New English Bible has “the man whom thou hast made strong for thy service.” But the Hebrew may be simply emphatic; in Good News Translation language it would be “the nation you yourself made so strong.”

Dahood takes verse 18a not as a promise but as a statement: “We have never turned away from you” (similarly An American Translation, New English Bible). It is better to take it as a statement.

Give us life is a plea for the restoration of the nation, that it may continue to exist. We will call on thy name is a promise to praise and worship God.

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 .