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 18:4

For their enemies deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness may be rendered “But those others [or, their enemies] deserved to have light taken from them, to be imprisoned in darkness.” Or translators may say “But when those others [or, their enemies] were shut up in darkness, deprived of any light, they deserved it” or even “But when you shut their enemies up in darkness, not allowing them to see any light, they deserved it.” Note that the connector For is better rendered as “But” in this context.

Those who had kept thy sons imprisoned: This second line of the verse is closely linked with both the first line and the third line, yet it is difficult to express this verse as one sentence and keep it easily understood. The solution of Good News Translation is to use two sentences. It makes this line part of the first one with “… because they had made prisoners of your people.” Then it repeats “your people” in the last line. This makes “your people” the obvious point of connection.

Through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world: Good News Translation has a good translation of this line, and furnishes a fairly simple model; but we may also use the active voice: “And it was through your people that you would give the eternal light of your Law to the world.” Here God’s law is compared to light because it makes clear to people how they should live. If the metaphor is difficult, another possible rendering is “And it was through your people that you would give the Law, which would always show people how they should live.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• But when you shut their enemies up in darkness, not allowing them to see any light, they deserved it. This was because they had imprisoned [or, made prisoners of] your people. And it was through your people that you would give the eternal light of your Law to the world.

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.