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 18:3

Therefore thou didst provide a flaming pillar of fire as a guide for thy people’s unknown journey: The connector Therefore more literally is “Instead of which” (Winston “In contrast”). This means that God prepared the pillar of fire for his people in contrast to or instead of the intense darkness that he prepared for the Egyptians. It is not reading too much into the text to begin the verse by saying “Then instead of darkness, you gave your people a pillar of fire to guide them through an unfamiliar land.” We do not recommend reversing these two lines as Good News Translation has done. It takes away the emphasis put on the pillar of fire here. This pillar of fire was not a solid object. Some translators may say something like “a flaming fire in the shape of a pillar [or, column].” See Exo 13.21.

And a harmless sun for their glorious wandering: Good News Translation does well to translate the line as a separate sentence. Harmless means that the sun did the Israelites no harm, in contrast to the darkness that harmed their enemies. Glorious here has the meaning “justly famed.” “Famous” would probably be closer to the intent. This line may be rendered “It was [like] a sun that would not harm them on their famous journey.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Then instead of darkness, you guided your people with a pillar of fire [or, a flaming fire in the shape of a pillar/column] as they traveled through places that they did not know [or, had never traveled before]. The fire was like a sun that would not harm them on their famous journey.

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.