Ps 89:24

mercy

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin terms that are typically translated as “mercy” (or “compassion” or “kindness”) in English are translated in various ways. Bratcher / Nida classify them in (1) those based on the quality of heart, or other psychological center, (2) those which introduce the concept of weeping or extreme sorrow, (3) those which involve willingness to look upon and recognize the condition of others, or (4) those which involve a variety of intense feelings.

While the English mercy originates from the Latin merces, originally “price paid,” Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Corsican, Catalan) and other Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish — Barmherzigkeit, barmhärtighet and barmhjertighed, respectively) tend to follow the Latin misericordia, lit. “misery-heart.”

Here are some other (back-) translations:

Ngäbere: “tender heart”
Mískito: “white heart”
Amganad Ifugao: “what arises from a kind heart”
Vai: “purity of heart”
Western Kanjobal: “his abdomen weeps”
Kipsigis: “cry inside”
Shilluk: “cry continually within”
Navajo: “feel great sorrow” (“with the connotation of being about to cry”)
Kpelle: “see misery”
Toro So Dogon: “know misery”
Western Highland Purepecha: “be in pain for”
San Miguel El Grande Mixtec: “be very sorry for”
Mezquital Otomi: “have increasing love for”
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “showing undeserved goodness” (“closely identified with grace”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “pity-love”
Central Mazahua: “very much pity people”
Alekano: “help people who are suffering”
Guhu-Samane: “feeling sorry for men” (source for this and three above: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
Warao: “kobe (= the abdominal region, including the heart) hurts” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. )
Latvian: žēlastība, the same term that is also used for grace (source: Katie Roth)
Iloko: asi — also means “pity” and is used for a love of the poor and helpless (source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
Bilua: “forgiving love” (source: Carl Gross)
Luang: “inside goodness” (source: Kathy and Mark Taber in Kroneman [2004], p. 533)
Mairasi: “have good intestines” (see Seat of the Mind) (source: Lloyd Peckham)

in the name of, on the account of his (or: my) name

Some of the Hebrew and Greek phrases that are translated in English in association with “name,” including “in the name of,” “in my name,” “in your name,” “on the account of my name,” “on the account of your name” (according to a classification by Robert Bratcher in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 72ff. , phrases that belong to the categories of “Agency or instrumentality” and “Representation”) present a number of challenges in other languages.

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Eugene Nida (1947, p 178ff.) explains this way:

“The biblical attitudes toward human personality are of great theological importance. There is, however, only one word which produces any considerable difficulty in other languages. This is the word ‘name.’ The great difference attached to the significance of the name of a person in the Bible times in contrast with our own culture is very important. Note such phrases as ‘whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,’ John 14:13, ‘believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God,’ John 3:18, and ‘life through his name,’ John 20:31. These expressions are generally difficult for us to understand, for the word ‘name’ does not mean the same to us as it meant to those of Bible times. To them the name was the symbolization of the authority and personality of the individual who possessed the name. To us a name is far less important. It may be changed whenever one can convince a judge that another name might be more economically advantageous. The name is also a legal method of giving one’s written assent to certain business transactions, but to us it is not the symbol of the personality.”

The translation in Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl typically is “in someone’s authority” (for instance “I have come in my Father’s name” in John 5:43 becomes “I have come on my Father’s authority”) (source Nida 1947, p. 179), or in Highland Puebla Nahuatl with the more paraphrastic equivalent “as though on orders from you” or in Tzeltal as “by your authority, so he said” (both examples for Mark 9:38 and 39, see Bratcher / Nida).

In Guhu-Samane, Mark 11:9 (in English: “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”) is translated as “Blessed is the Lord’s namesake who comes.” “In the name of the Lord” caused “puzzlement [because] “has he just assumed the name of the Lord, valid or otherwise? [But] with ‘blessed is the Lord’s namesake who comes’ the strong bond between the namesake and the important ancestor for whom named entitles the namesake to the deference due the ancestor. Thought very proper in this context.” (Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. )

Barclay Newman (see The Bible Translator 1974, pp, 432ff. ) reports on different solutions for the translation of the Today’s Malay Version (Alkitab Berita Baik, 1987):

In Malay “the phrase ‘in my name’ is problematic (…) since it sounds like the use of magic. For this reason [the English] Today’s English Version (Good News Bible) was followed at such passages as John 5:43 and 10:25, where ‘in the name of my Father’ is translated as ‘with my Father’s authority’ and ‘by my Father’s authority’ [respectively]. In John 12:13 ‘in the name of the Lord’ has become ‘in his (the Lord’s) behalf,’ following the common language German translation Die Gute Nachricht. In John 14:13, ‘because you are my followers’ is used, in John in 15:16, 16:23 and 24 ‘as my followers,’ in John 17:11 ‘by your own power, the power you gave me,’ and in John 14:26 ‘in my place.'”

Other translations for “in the name of Jesus Christ” include “in the authority of Jesus Christ” (Isthmus Mixe), “calling on Jesus Christ” (Teutila Cuicatec), “calling the name of Jesus Christ over you” (Ayutla Mixtec), “because of Jesus” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “by the power of the name of Jesus Christ” (Chichimeca-Jonaz), or “the word of Jesus Christ is strong” (Lalana Chinantec). (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).

steadfast love

The Hebrew that is translated as “steadfast love,” “lovingkindness” or similar in English is translated in Vidunda as “love of enduring.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Bura-Pabir it is translated as hyirkur na a palidzi wa or “love which cannot be-changed” and in the Hausa Common Language Ajami Bible as kaunarsa marar canjawa or “his love without changing.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In Pijin tinghevi long or “think heavy about” is used. “The Pijin expression ‘think heavy about’ is very much within the domain of committed relationships. The relationship between father and child, husband and wife, God and His people. There is a very strong element of ‘loyalty’ in this expression.” (Source: Bob Carter)

Translation commentary on Psalm 89:24 - 89:25

In verses 24-29 God promises to be with David always, to uphold him, bless him, and make him king over a mighty empire. The direct quotation of what God said to David is a long one (verses 19-37), and in some translations it may be helpful to make a break and reintroduce God as speaker; verse 24 can begin: “God also said, ‘I will love David….’ ”

In verse 24, as in verses 2, 14b, God’s faithfulness and … steadfast love are spoken of; here he pledges them to David for all time. In verse 24b the Hebrew is and in my name shall his horn be exalted (see verse 17b). In my name means “by means of my power (or, presence) with him.” His horn is a figure for power, strength (see also comments on 18.2; 75.4, 5). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “Because I will be with him, his power will grow,” and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “and by means of me his power will grow”; Bible en français courant translates “I am the one who will make his power grow.” Good News Translation has shifted from the noun phrases in Revised Standard Version to verb phrases, just as many translators will be required to do. “I will make him always victorious” must in many languages be recast to say, for example, “I will always enable him to defeat his enemies.”

One of the typical devices for heightening poetic effect in parallel lines is the use of a metaphor in the second line, here horn be exalted. This effect may be translated by saying, for example, “Not only will I love him and be loyal to him, I will always help him defeat his enemies.”

David’s kingdom will reach from the sea to the rivers. Good News Translation and others take this to mean “from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates River” (see discussion of similar expressions in 72.8; 80.11). Some take the language to mean that David’s reign will be universal, the sea and the rivers standing for the limits of the whole world (see 24.2 and comments). It is probable, as Dahood maintains, that here, as in verse 13b, hand and right hand mean “left hand” and “right hand.” It is also possible that the psalmist is dealing more with poetic word pairs than with geographical space.

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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Verse: Psalm 89:24