The Hebrew that is translated in English as “stronghold” is translated in Chichewa with linga. In Chewa culture, the word has its background in the context of war. Before the 1950s, there were a lot of tribal wars. The word “linga” was used to refer to a place, mostly a cave in a mountain or hill, where people were hiding in times of wars. Sometimes they used this place to hide their weapons. This was a safe place to be in times of danger. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated literally as “horn of salvation” and less metaphorically as “mighty savior” in some English versions is translated along those lines in many languages as well:
Una “a very powerful Person to us who will rescue people” (source for this ans above: Dick Kroneman)
Elhomwe “powerful savior” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Mairasi: “the strong One Who will save us” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Bariai: “this man came to retrieve us back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
In Uab Meto, however the term for “horn” is also used metaphorically for “hero” and in Balinese the term for “tusk,” which suggests “champion/hero” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Chichewa (interconfessional translation, 1999) it is translated as “our mighty Saviour.” Ernst Wendland (1998, p. 155f.) explains: “A literal rendering of the Greek ‘horn of salvation’ causes real problems in Chichewa due to the strong association that an animal ‘horn’ has with the local practice of sorcery (e.g. a ‘sorcerer’ is referred to as wanyanga ‘person of a horn’). Since the horn was a symbol of strength in biblical times, [we] translated this metonym as ‘our mighty Saviour.'”
In certain languages some types of possession simply cannot be used. For example in Hopi one cannot speak of [what is translated in English as] “(Yahweh) my God,” for God cannot be possessed. One must say, “the God in whom I believe.” (p. 206)
The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”
Aari: “the day our Savior comes” (in Rom 13:11) (source: Loren Bliese)
in Mairasi its is translated as “life fruit” or “life fruit all mashed out.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.” And for “all mashed out” he explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (See also eternity / forever)
In Lisu a poetic construct is used for this term. Arrington (2020, p. 58f.) explains: “A four-word couplet uses Lisu poetic forms to bridge the abstract concrete divide, an essential divide to cross if Christian theology is to be understood by those with oral thought patterns. Each couplet uses three concrete nouns or verbs to express an abstract term. An example of this is the word for salvation, a quite abstract term essential to understanding Christian theology. To coin this new word, the missionary translators used a four-word couplet: ℲO., CYU. W: CYU (person … save … person … save). In this particular case, the word for person was not the ordinary word (ʁ) but rather the combination of ℲO., and W: used in oral poetry. The word for ‘save’ also had to be coined; in this case, it was borrowed from Chinese [from jiù / 救]. These aspects of Lisu poetry, originally based on animism, likely would have been lost as Lisu society encountered communism and modernization. Yet they are now codified in the Lisu Bible as well as the hymnbook.”
In the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) it is translated with chipulumutso which is used to refer to an act of helping someone who is in problems but cannot help him/herself come out of the problems because of weakness. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.
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 Translator2002, 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.”
Some translations specifically reproduce the voice of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible.
English: My God is my rock, in whom I seek-refuge,
my shield, the horn of my deliverance,
my secure-height, my place-of-retreat,
my deliverer — from treachery you deliver me!
Source: Everett Fox 2014
German: mein Gott, mein Fels, an den ich mich schmiege,
mein Schild, Horn meiner Freiheit,
mein Horst, meine Zuflucht,
mein Befreier,
von der Unbill befreist du mich.
Source: Buber / Rosenzweig 1976
French: Elohîms de mon roc, je m’abrite en lui.
Mon bouclier, la corne de mon salut,
ma culmination, ma fuite, mon sauveur,
tu me sauves de la violence.
Source: Chouraqui 1985
For other verses or sections translated with a Hebraic voice, see here.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 22:3:
Kupsabiny: “God is my rock-cave. He saves/protects me. God is my shield, and I trust in him so that he may rescue me. I take refuge in my hill, oh, God is my hill, oh please. You are the one who rescues me, oh my God, you who rescued me from the battle/war, really.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “My God is like my rock for me, who protects me. He is my shield, the power of my salvation, He is my stronghold, the place I take refuge. you are my savior, you save me from violent people.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “This is his song: ‘You (sing.), LORD, are my rock/stone of refuge, my strong/firm place-of-hiding and the-one-who-delivers. As a rock/stone of refuge, I can-hide in you (sing.). You (sing.) are my shield and powerful/mighty savior. You (sing.) are my place-to-take-refuge and place-of-hiding. You (sing.) are the one-who-saves me from cruel people.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Yahweh, you protect me; you are like a shield; you are the powerful one who saves me; you are like a place where I find refuge/am safe. You save me from those who act violently toward me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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