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 18:5

When they had resolved to kill the babes of thy holy ones: The reference is to Exo 1.15-22. Translators should follow Good News Translation in translating they as “your enemies.” Had resolved means “had decided.” The author’s readers would have understood babes as referring to firstborn sons. Thy holy ones again means “your chosen people.” We may translate this line “Your enemies were determined to kill the babies [or, sons] of your holy [or, chosen] people.”

And one child had been exposed and rescued: The grammatical construction used in Greek here allows this line to fit in smoothly with the lines before and after it, but in English, and in most other languages, it is a problem since it gives information that is only incidental to the immediate argument. It is probably best dealt with by putting it in parentheses: “(but one baby who was in danger was rescued).” The reference, of course, is to Moses (Exo 2.1-10). For exposed see the note at 11.14. Good News Translation makes the wrong choice of words with “abandoned.” The infant Moses was not abandoned—his sister was nearby to make sure he was safe. Our model above tries to avoid the cultural problem by translating “who was in danger.” These first two lines may be rendered as “Your enemies were determined to kill the babies [or, firstborn sons] of your chosen people; but one baby who was in danger was rescued.”

Thou didst in punishment take away a multitude of their children: See Exo 12.29-32. Didst … take away means “killed,” as Good News Translation has it, but it is too direct to speak of God killing children. It would be better to say “took away” or “deprived them of” if that would be understood; the line may be rendered “you punished them by taking a large number of their children away from them.”

And thou didst destroy them all together by a mighty flood: This is a reference to Exo 14.26-31, which reports the disaster suffered by the Egyptians in the sea. We will discuss this at greater length in the next chapter, but it is brought in here as a way of pointing out that just as Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew baby boys to be thrown into the Nile River, so God punished Pharaoh by drowning his army in the sea. Good News Translation provides a good model for this line. We may also say “You drowned all their soldiers [or, fighting men] in the rushing waters.”

The whole verse may be translated as follows:

• Because your enemies were determined to kill the babies [or, firstborn sons] of your holy [or, chosen] people (but one baby who was in danger was rescued), you punished them by taking a large number of their children from them. You drowned their whole army [or, all their soldiers] at one time in the rushing waters.

A different approach to this verse, which we recommend, would join lines one and three, and then connect lines two and four; it would clarify the reasoning as follows:

• Because your enemies were determined to drown the babies [or, firstborn sons] of your holy [or, chosen] people, you punished them by taking a large number of their children away from them. One baby of your people was rescued from the river, but you drowned their whole army at one time in the rushing waters.

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.