inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Ps 90:1)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translations both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Lord.

female second person singular pronoun in Psalms

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.”

See also female first person singular pronoun in Psalms and addressing God.

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 90:1 - 90:2

The opening statement reflects confidence which is based on the knowledge of God’s eternal nature. Always he has been the dwelling place of his people. Instead of the Masoretic text dwelling place, some Hebrew manuscripts and the Septuagint have “refuge” (so New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). It may well be that the word in the Masoretic text has here the meaning “place of safety”; Bible en français courant has “our place of security.”1-2 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives both alternatives, without expressing a preference. Lord translates the title, not the personal name Yahweh. The Hebrew “for generation and generation” in verse 1b means “for all time, forever.” In some languages it will not be natural to speak of the Lord being a place, and the noun phrase must therefore be recast as a clause and in some cases as a simile; for example, “Lord, you have always protected us” or “Lord, you have always been like a home to us.”

In verse 2 the Hebrew text is literally “before the hills were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world.” The language is poetic, portraying God as giving birth. The second verb means “to have labor pains” (see also comments on “whirl” in 29.9). The birth imagery functions poetically here to hint at the birth of humankind, which suggests the limitations of time that are imposed on humans in contrast with God, who is eternal. New International Version approximates the female imagery: “were born … you brought forth”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “were born … you gave birth to”; and New Jerusalem Bible “were born … came to birth.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible provides a good model to follow.

It is not certain what difference, if any, is intended between the two words earth and world; it seems that the two are quite synonymous here (see 19.4; 24.1; 33.8; 77.18b-c, where they are parallel). Perhaps something like “the earth and (the rest of) the universe” can be said. In English the earth and the world is repetitious and redundant, as will be the case in most languages. Bible en français courant has only “the world,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “the earth.”

The Hebrew phrase translated from everlasting to everlasting in verse 2c expresses all time, past and future (see the same idea in 102.27). The emphasis in the Hebrew “you (are) God” is better brought out by “you are the one who is God” (see Bible en français courant). If the translator follows the restructuring of Good News Translation in this verse, it may be necessary to place “you were eternally God” at the opening and “will be God forever” at the conclusion. For example, “You always were God” or “You always were the God we worship, even before you created the hills and the world, and you will always be the God we worship.”

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 .