addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or modern 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 the most recent Manchu translation of 1835 (a revision of an earlier edition from 1822), God is never addressed with a pronoun but with “father” (ama /ᠠᠮᠠ) instead. Chengcheng Liu (in this post on the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology blog ) explains: “In Manchu tradition, as in Chinese etiquette, second-person pronouns could be considered disrespectful when speaking to superiors or spiritual beings. Manchu Shamanist prayers avoided si [‘you’] and sini [‘your’] for this very reason. To use them for God would be, in Lipovzoff’s [one of the two translators] words, ‘the most uncouth and indecent way to speak to the Almighty — as if He were a servant or slave.’ There was also a grammatical problem. In Manchu, si and sini could refer to both singular and plural subjects. For a faith that insisted on the singularity of God, this was potentially confusing. By contrast, repeating ama removed any ambiguity.”

In Dutch, Afrikaans, Gronings, and Western Frisian translations, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also formal pronoun: disciples addressing Jesus, female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Translation commentary on 2 Chronicles 6:16

Now therefore is literally “And now.” The Hebrew words here mark a logical transition. Revised English Bible and New American Bible say “Now, therefore,” and New Revised Standard Version has “Therefore.”

Keep with thy servant David … what thou has promised him: Solomon has already acknowledged that God kept his promise to David that his son would build the Temple (verse 10). Now Solomon asks God to “keep the other promise you made” (Good News Translation), which is the promise to David that someone from his family would always be king of Israel (see 1 Kgs 2.4). This promise is cited in the remainder of the verse.

Saying …: In the remainder of this verse Solomon cites directly God’s promise to David, so there is it a quotation within a quotation. Good News Translation has turned the words of God into an indirect quotation, which may be a good model for other languages.

There shall never fail you a man before me to sit upon the throne of Israel is literally “There shall not be cut off to you a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel.” Moffatt says “You shall never lack a descendant in my sight to sit upon the throne of Israel.” La Bible du Semeur uses a positive expression, saying “There will always be one of your descendants who will sit under my regard on the throne of Israel.” Another possible model is “One of your descendants will always be the ruler over Israel before me.”

If only your sons take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me: If only introduces the condition required of David’s descendants: they must carefully pay attention to the way they behave and seek to live as David himself had lived. This connector may be translated “provided that” (New Jerusalem Bible), “but on one condition” (Parole de Vie), or “on condition that.” Your sons refers to future generations and should therefore be rendered “your descendants” in most languages. As in verse 14, the Hebrew verb rendered walk is used figuratively with the meaning “to live” or “to behave.” Walk in my law means to live a life of obedience to the Law of God. Nouvelle Bible Segond says “follow my law.” The Hebrew noun translated law (torah) has a wider range of meaning than the English word law. It also carries the idea of “teaching,” so New Century Version says “obey my teachings.”

The condition here is important and may be highlighted as in Parole de Vie, which renders God’s words to David as “There will be someone from your family to be king of the people of Israel after you, but on one condition: your sons must pay attention to their conduct and live according to my law, as you yourself have done.” New Century Version places the condition at the beginning of the sentence rather than at the end, saying “If your sons are careful to obey my teachings as you have obeyed, there will always be someone from your family ruling Israel.” New Living Translation is similar with “If your descendants guard their behavior and obey my law as you have done, they will always reign over Israel.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .