self-referencing pronoun for king or queen

In Malay, the pronoun beta for the royal “I” (or “my” or “me”) that is used by royals when speaking to people of lower rank, subordinates or commoners to refer to themselves in these verses. This reflects the “language of the court because the monarchy and sultanate in Malaysia are still alive and well. All oral and printed literature (including newspapers and magazines) preserve and glorify the language of the court. Considering that the language of the court is part of the Malaysian language, court language is used sparingly where appropriate, specifically with texts relating to palace life.” (Source: Daud Soesilo in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 263ff.)

complete verse (Esther 3:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Esther 3:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then the king told him that, ‘You take that money yourself and you do with those people what you want.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The king said to Haman, "Keep this silver yourself! Do whatever you like to the people!” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The king said to him, ‘You (sing.) can have your (sing.) money, but do what you (sing.) want to do with the Jews.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Eastern Bru: “King Xerxes said to Haman: "Those people and their gold can become yours. And it’s up to you what you want to do with them. Go ahead and do it.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • English: “The king told Haman, ‘Keep your money, but do what you want to with those people whom you talked about!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
  • Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))

Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:

“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Esther 3:11   

The intended meaning of the words The money is given to you is not clear. They may mean “Since it is your money, it is your decision to put the money into the royal treasury. That is all right with me,” in which case the king was actually accepting the money. In support of this view, one may note that Esther tells the king in 7.4 that the Jews have been “sold,” though “sold” may mean only “delivered over.” Mordecai apparently believed that the king had accepted the money (see 4.7).

The Septuagint says “Keep the money.” Several translations either follow the text of the Septuagint or interpret the Hebrew text to have that meaning (see New American Bible, “The silver you may keep … but as for this people, do with them whatever you please,” and Revised English Bible, “Keep the money … and deal with the people as you think best”). The translators of Good News Translation apparently considered the money that Haman intended to place in the king’s treasuries to be booty that was to be taken from the Jews who were to be destroyed. In agreement with that interpretation the money is translated as “their money” in Good News Translation (also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, Contemporary English Version).

The identity of the people should not be made explicit in translation (see 3.8, “a certain people”), since later, when the king honors “Mordecai the Jew” (6.10), he seems not to identify Mordecai with the people who were to be destroyed.

As it seems good to you: many languages will have an idiom similar to the Hebrew, which is literally “as good in your eyes.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on Esther (The Hebrew Text). (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .