John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 2 from the 1946 edition in the so-called Sao style (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either and underlined proper names):

順與逆

何列邦之擾攘兮。何萬民之猖狂。 世酋蠭起兮。跋扈飛揚。共圖背叛天主兮。反抗受命之王。 曰吾儕豈長甘羈絆兮。盍解其縛而脫其繮。
在天者必大笑兮。笑蜉蝣之不知自量。 終必勃然而怒兮。以懲當車之螳螂。 主曰吾已立君於西溫聖山之上兮。 君曰吾將宣聖旨於萬方。主曾告予兮。爾為予新得之元良。 予必應爾所求兮。如聲斯響。普天率土兮。莫非吾兒之宇疆。 爾當執鐵杖以粉碎群逆兮。有如瓦缶與壺觴。
嗚呼世之侯王兮。盍不及早省悟。鳴呼世之法吏兮。盍不自守法度。 小心翼翼以事主兮。寓歡樂於敬懼。 心悅誠服以順命兮。免天帝之震怒。何苦自取滅亡兮。自絕於康莊之大路。須知惟有委順兮。能邀無窮之福祚。

Transcription into Roman alphabet with the particle xī, that is characteristic for the Sao style, highlighted:

shùn yǔ nì

hé liè bāng zhī rǎo rǎng xī 。 hé wàn mín zhī chāng kuáng 。 shì qiú fēng qǐ xī 。 bá hù fēi yáng 。 gòng tú bèi pàn tiān zhǔ xī 。 fǎn kàng shòu mìng zhī wáng 。 yuē wú chái qǐ cháng gān jī bàn xī 。 hé jiě qí fù ér tuō qí jiāng 。
zài tiān zhě bì dà xiào xī 。 xiào fú yóu zhī bù zhī zì liáng 。 zhōng bì bó rán ér nù xī 。 yǐ chěng dāng chē zhī táng láng 。 zhǔ yuē wú yǐ lì jūn yú xī wēn shèng shān zhī shàng xī 。 jūn yuē wú jiāng xuān shèng zhǐ yú wàn fāng 。 zhǔ zēng gào yú xī 。 ěr wéi yú xīn dé zhī yuán liáng 。 yú bì yīng ěr suǒ qiú xī 。 rú shēng sī xiǎng 。 pǔ tiān shuài tǔ xī 。 mò fēi wú ér zhī yǔ jiāng 。 ěr dāng zhí tiě zhàng yǐ fěn suì qún nì xī 。 yǒu rú wǎ fǒu yǔ hú shāng 。
wū hū shì zhī hóu wáng xī 。 hé bù jí zǎo shěng wù 。 míng hū shì zhī fǎ lì xī 。 hé bù zì shǒu fǎ dù 。 xiǎo xīn yì yì yǐ shì zhǔ xī 。 yù huān lè yú jìng jù 。 xīn yuè chéng fú yǐ shùn mìng xī 。 miǎn tiān dì zhī zhèn nù 。 hé kǔ zì qǔ miè wáng xī 。 zì jué yú kāng zhuāng zhī dà lù 。 xū zhī wéi yǒu wěi shùn xī 。 néng yāo wú qióng zhī fú zuò 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 13 from the 1946 edition is in the so-called Sao style (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

夜如何其

吁嗟天主兮。盍其有極。棄我如遺兮。慈顏恆匿。 不見吾主兮。中心悒悒。黯然銷魂兮。將至何日。敵人高壓兮。何時得息。 主其垂青兮。應我之求。賜光明於吾目兮。庶免昏睡而長休。 豈可使彼敵人兮。幸吾災而樂吾憂。 我之恃主兮。始末不渝。終必蒙救兮。賜以歡愉。我當謳歌兮。詠主德之特殊。

Transcription into Roman alphabet with the particle xī, that is characteristic for the Sao style, highlighted:

yè rú hé qí

xū jiē tiān zhǔ xī 。 hé qí yǒu jí 。 qì wǒ rú yí xī 。 cí yán héng nì 。 bù jiàn wú zhǔ xī 。 zhōng xīn yì yì 。 àn rán xiāo hún xī 。 jiāng zhì hé rì 。 dí rén gāo yā xī 。 hé shí dé xī 。 zhǔ qí chuí qīng xī 。 yīng wǒ zhī qiú 。 cì guāng míng yú wú mù xī 。 shù miǎn hūn shuì ér cháng xiū 。 qǐ kě shǐ bǐ dí rén xī 。 xìng wú zāi ér lè wú yōu 。 wǒ zhī shì zhǔ xī 。 shǐ mò bù yú 。 zhōng bì mēng jiù xī 。 cì yǐ huān yú 。 wǒ dāng ōu gē xī 。 yǒng zhǔ dé zhī tè shū 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 3 from the 1946 edition is in tetrameter and pentameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

恃主無恐

主乎主乎。吾敵何多。耀武揚威。向我操戈。 曰彼無神助。其如予何。
主作我盾。護我周圍。主為我光。令我揚眉。 竭聲籲主。聲達靈帷。
寤寐思服。主恩罔極。 雖在重圍。何所用懾。
主乎救我。俯聽悲嗟。既批敵頰。又折其牙。 鮮民何恃。主德無涯。

Transcription into Roman alphabet:

shì zhǔ wú kǒng

zhǔ hū zhǔ hū 。 wú dí hé duō 。 yào wǔ yáng wēi 。 xiàng wǒ cāo gē 。 yuē bǐ wú shén zhù 。 qí rú yú hé 。
zhǔ zuò wǒ dùn 。 hù wǒ zhōu wéi 。 zhǔ wéi wǒ guāng 。 líng wǒ yáng méi 。 jié shēng xū zhǔ 。 shēng dá líng wéi 。
wù mèi sī fú 。 zhǔ ēn wǎng jí 。 suī zài zhòng wéi 。 hé suǒ yòng shè 。
zhǔ hū jiù wǒ 。 fǔ tīng bēi jiē 。 jì pī dí jiá 。 yòu zhē qí yá 。 xiān mín hé shì 。 zhǔ dé wú yá 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 14 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either and underlined proper names):

視爾夢夢

愚人心中言。宇宙無主宰。此輩何卑汚。所為皆曖昧。欲求為善者。不見一人在。
主自九天上。俯首察生靈。儻有智慧子。願與主相親。 紛紛落歧途。溷濁同垢塵。悠悠寰海內。竟無一賢人。 豈其作惡者。莫具纖屑知。何以不懷主。靦然食民脂。
主與德為鄰。惡人惴惴恐。 平生侮貧人。貧人主所寵。
義塞之救恩。宜自西溫出。主必引眾俘。歸還其本宅。義塞與雅谷。歡樂將何極。

Transcription into Roman alphabet:

shì ěr mèng mèng

yú rén xīn zhōng yán 。 yǔ zhòu wú zhǔ zǎi 。 cǐ bèi hé bēi wū 。 suǒ wéi jiē ài mèi 。 yù qiú wéi shàn zhě 。 bù jiàn yī rén zài 。
zhǔ zì jiǔ tiān shàng 。 fǔ shǒu chá shēng líng 。 tǎng yǒu zhì huì zǐ 。 yuàn yǔ zhǔ xiāng qīn 。 fēn fēn luò qí tú 。 hùn zhuó tóng gòu chén 。 yōu yōu huán hǎi nèi 。 jìng wú yī xián rén 。 qǐ qí zuò è zhě 。 mò jù xiān xiè zhī 。 hé yǐ bù huái zhǔ 。 miǎn rán shí mín zhī 。
zhǔ yǔ dé wéi lín 。 è rén zhuì zhuì kǒng 。 píng shēng wǔ pín rén 。 pín rén zhǔ suǒ chǒng 。
yì sāi zhī jiù ēn 。 yí zì xī wēn chū 。 zhǔ bì yǐn zhòng fú 。 guī huán qí běn zhái 。 yì sāi yǔ yǎ gǔ 。 huān lè jiāng hé jí 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 4 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

恃主常樂

呼籲公明主。為我伸冤屈。昔曾出我厄。令我得安逸。今者復求主。垂憐申舊德。 嗚呼濁世子。何時知曲直。狂妄安能逞。豈無黑與白。 須知主公明。忠良是所秩。我求主必應。何苦自作孽。 清夜當捫心。一省順與逆。 應獻忠誠祭。順命斯無失。
眾庶喁喁望。何日見時康。吾心惟仰主。願見主容光。 主已將天樂。貯我腔子裏。人情樂豐年。有酒多且旨。豐年誠足樂。美酒豈無味。未若我心中。一團歡愉意。 心曠神亦怡。登榻即成寐。問君何能爾。恃主而已矣。

Transcription into Roman alphabet:

shì zhǔ cháng lè

hū xū gōng míng zhǔ 。 wéi wǒ shēn yuān qū 。 xī zēng chū wǒ è 。 líng wǒ dé ān yì 。 jīn zhě fù qiú zhǔ 。 chuí lián shēn jiù dé 。 wū hū zhuó shì zǐ 。 hé shí zhī qū zhí 。 kuáng wàng ān néng chěng 。 qǐ wú hēi yǔ bái 。 xū zhī zhǔ gōng míng 。 zhōng liáng shì suǒ zhì 。 wǒ qiú zhǔ bì yīng 。 hé kǔ zì zuò niè 。 qīng yè dāng mén xīn 。 yī shěng shùn yǔ nì 。 yīng xiàn zhōng chéng jì 。 shùn mìng sī wú shī 。
zhòng shù yóng yóng wàng 。 hé rì jiàn shí kāng 。 wú xīn wéi yǎng zhǔ 。 yuàn jiàn zhǔ róng guāng 。 zhǔ yǐ jiāng tiān lè 。 zhù wǒ qiāng zǐ lǐ 。 rén qíng lè fēng nián 。 yǒu jiǔ duō qiě zhǐ 。 fēng nián chéng zú lè 。 měi jiǔ qǐ wú wèi 。 wèi ruò wǒ xīn zhōng 。 yī tuán huān yú yì 。 xīn kuàng shén yì yí 。 dēng tà jí chéng mèi 。 wèn jūn hé néng ěr 。 shì zhǔ ér yǐ yǐ 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 15 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter and the rhyme scheme is -an (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

忠厚廉潔

誰堪留帝所。誰堪居靈山。 其惟行善者。心口無欺謾。 既無讒人舌。又無惡心肝。處世惟忠厚。克己待人寬。 見惡避若浼。見善共相歡。一言九鼎重。得失非所患。 不將重利剝。不作貪汚官。行善邀福澤。長如磐石安。

Transcription into Roman alphabet with the rhyme scheme highlighted:

zhōng hòu lián jié

shuí kān liú dì suǒ 。 shuí kān jū líng shān 。 qí wéi xíng shàn zhě 。 xīn kǒu wú qī mán 。 jì wú chán rén shé 。 yòu wú è xīn gān 。 chǔ shì wéi zhōng hòu 。 kè jǐ dài rén kuān 。 jiàn è bì ruò měi 。 jiàn shàn gòng xiāng huān 。 yī yán jiǔ dǐng zhòng 。 dé shī fēi suǒ huàn 。 bù jiāng zhòng lì bāo 。 bù zuò tān wū guān 。 xíng shàn yāo fú zé 。 cháng rú pán shí ān 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.

John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)

John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)

“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”

“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’

“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.

“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.

“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”

A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”

The translation of Psalm 10 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

精神堡壘

主乃我所依。一生安且怡。 吾心白吾主。所天惟有汝。方寸無他好。懷主以為寶。 城中諸聖人。亦是我所親。同游聖教中。其樂何融融。
歸依邪魔者。愁上更添憂。祭祀含血腥。厥名亦可羞。
主是我基業。主是我歡杯。杯中酒常滿。家業永不衰。 優游田園中。俯仰稱心意。日涉漸成趣。樂斯境界美。
為我開明悟。主恩豈不富。夙夜無敢荒。惟恐忝大父。 大父常在眼。但期無失步。兢兢如臨深。幸有主佑扶。持此寬心神。 魂安魄亦舒。 所望保吾魂。莫使淪幽冥。更望聖者身。免染朽腐痕。 指我生命路。飫我瞻仰欣。吾主之右手。永為福樂源。

Transcription into Roman alphabet:

jīng shén bǎo lěi

zhǔ nǎi wǒ suǒ yī 。 yī shēng ān qiě yí 。 wú xīn bái wú zhǔ 。 suǒ tiān wéi yǒu rǔ 。 fāng cùn wú tā hǎo 。 huái zhǔ yǐ wéi bǎo 。 chéng zhōng zhū shèng rén 。 yì shì wǒ suǒ qīn 。 tóng yóu shèng jiào zhōng 。 qí lè hé róng róng 。
guī yī xié mó zhě 。 chóu shàng gēng tiān yōu 。 jì sì hán xuè xīng 。 jué míng yì kě xiū 。
zhǔ shì wǒ jī yè 。 zhǔ shì wǒ huān bēi 。 bēi zhōng jiǔ cháng mǎn 。 jiā yè yǒng bù shuāi 。 yōu yóu tián yuán zhōng 。 fǔ yǎng chēng xīn yì 。 rì shè jiàn chéng qù 。 lè sī jìng jiè měi 。
wéi wǒ kāi míng wù 。 zhǔ ēn qǐ bù fù 。 sù yè wú gǎn huāng 。 wéi kǒng tiǎn dà fù 。 dà fù cháng zài yǎn 。 dàn qī wú shī bù 。 jīng jīng rú lín shēn 。 xìng yǒu zhǔ yòu fú 。 chí cǐ kuān xīn shén 。 hún ān pò yì shū 。 suǒ wàng bǎo wú hún 。 mò shǐ lún yōu míng 。 gēng wàng shèng zhě shēn 。 miǎn rǎn xiǔ fǔ hén 。 zhǐ wǒ shēng mìng lù 。 yù wǒ zhān yǎng xīn 。 wú zhǔ zhī yòu shǒu 。 yǒng wéi fú lè yuán 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.