All is literally “every tongue.” This expression, like “every knee,” is a poetic way of saying “everyone” or “all.” The verb translated openly proclaim usually indicates an open profession of faith (cf. 1 Tim 3.16). It can also be rendered “confess” (Revised Standard Version New English Bible), “acclaim” (Jerusalem Bible), or “openly declare” (Barclay). Note that verses 10-11 express the purpose of the exaltation: “and so (so that) … will openly proclaim (future indicative).” In some languages openly proclaim is best expressed as “will say to everyone,” or “will say when everyone is listening.”
The content of the acclamation is Jesus Christ is Lord. Here we have one of the earliest Christological confessions of the church preserved in the New Testament (cf. Rom 10.9; 1 Cor 12.3). Lord is the most common title applied to Jesus by the early church. It is the word employed in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew “Yahweh.” It can be used in the general sense of “master” or “sir,” but when it is applied to Jesus, it has a unique Christological significance. When Jesus Christ is acclaimed as Lord, he is installed in the place which properly belongs to God alone. This means that Jesus Christ has sovereignty over the entire universe. Lord is emphatic by its position in the sentence. Since this is a creedal statement, the words may be placed within quotation marks (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch New English Bible Translator’s New Testament).
In many languages the equivalent of Lord must occur with a so-called possessive pronoun, since it is impossible to anyone to be merely Lord; he must be Lord of certain persons, that is, “the one who controls” or “the one who gives orders to” those persons. Therefore Lord must be rendered in many instances as “their Lord.”
The ultimate purpose in giving homage to Jesus Christ and in acclaiming him as Lord is to be to the glory of God the Father. This is equivalent to saying “so that all will praise God.” (For the fuller meaning of “glory,” see the discussion under 1.11.) With these words the hymn draws to an appropriate close. The authority of the Son is derived from the Father. Only God the Father has the ultimate sovereignty (1 Cor 15.28; Rev 3.21; John 13.31; 17.1).
In order to show quite clearly how to the glory of God the Father relates to what has immediately preceded, it may be necessary to make the connection more specific, for example, “in saying this about Jesus, they will be showing honor to God the Father.” In some languages the equivalent of glory in this type of context is simply “to show honor to” or “praise to.” In certain languages, however, it is possible to use idiomatic equivalents, for example, “to lift up the name of,” or “to show how magnificent God is.”
As in the case of Lord, it may also be necessary in some languages to indicate the relation of Father to those who claim him as Father. That is, a term such as “Father” is obligatorily possessed. In this context it may be necessary to say “God their Father,” or, perhaps in a more general sense, “God our Father.”
Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .