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 Wisdom 11:17

In verses 17-20 the author argues that even though God could have punished the Egyptians for the silly worship of reptiles and beetles by overwhelming them with huge, savage animals, he chose the punishment to fit the sin.

For thy all-powerful hand, which created the world out of formless matter: Good News Translation translates these lines as a separate sentence, which many translators will find a more natural style. The connector For introduces these lines as the reason for the last line. This relationship can be indicated by beginning the last line with “So” (see our model below). Hand is here a symbol of God’s activity in creation. For thy all-powerful hand, Good News Translation has “Your almighty power,” which is a good model; but if a language can use hand as a metaphor for “power,” the translator should use that word picture. The insertion of “Lord” by Good News Translation is helpful; it signals that the argument is about to take a new direction. Formless matter recalls Gen 1.2. An alternative model for this line is “Lord, you used your power to make the world out of material that had no form.”

Did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears, or bold lions: Multitude translates the same word as in verse 15, where Good News Translation translated “millions.” That was appropriate there, but here “an invasion of bears” (Good News Translation) is more appropriate for a multitude of bears. Winston translates “an army of bears.” Translators could also say “thousands of bears.” The bears referred to are the large, brown, dish-faced, humpbacked bears that once lived throughout Europe and northern Asia. In North America they are called grizzly bears. The lions are described as bold or “fearless,” but “savage” (New Jerusalem Bible) and “fierce” (New American Bible) are other possible renderings.

An alternative model for the verse is:

• Lord, you used your power to create the world out of material that had no form. So with this same power you could have sent thousands of bears or savage lions.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.