right hand of

The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “(to the) right hand of” is often translated much more descriptively in other languages:

  • Yakan: “at the right side, here in the greatest/most important/most honored place/seat”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “the right hand, at the place of honor”
  • Chuj: “exalted at the right hand”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “in a high place there at the right”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “make great”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “given great authority”
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “placed big” or “heart-strengthens me”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “stays with me” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August, 1966, p. 86ff)
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “in all authority at the right side” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Bariai: “chief seat at the right hand” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Cherokee: “the right, the stronger” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 31)
  • Musgu: “next to” or “on the side of” (source: Lynell Zogbo in The Bible Translator 2013, p. 36ff. )

In Lamnso’, the seat on the right-hand side signifies that the person seated there would have a higher position than the one to his left (vs. just being a seat of honor). To circumvent any misunderstanding of the biblical text, the translation here refers to the “highest seat next to God.” (Source: Karl Grebe in Holzhausen 1991, p. 52)

(Note that in Elhomwe the idiom “I see you through the left hand” stands for “useless.” [Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext])

For Old Testament examples of blessing and power associated with God’s right hand, see Gen 48:14, 48:17, Exodus 15:6, 15:12, Psalm 48:10, 80:15, 80:17, 89:13.

For more information on the issue of translating “right” vs. “left,” especially in African languages, see Lynell Zogbo’s article in The Bible Translator 2013, p. 36ff. .

songs of Moses and Miriam

Following is a translation of the songs of Moses and Miriam from Exodus 15 into dance and a song presented in the traditional Fang troubadour style (mvét oyeng) by the group Nkuwalong as part of a project by Bethany and Andrew Case. (Note that you can activate English and French subtitles.)

addressing God

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 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.

complete verse (Exodus 15:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 15:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “You stretched out your right hand,
    and then, the ground swallowed our enemies.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “You stretched out your hand
    and the earth swallowed them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “By your (sing.) power the ground/land swallowed-up our (excl.) enemies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “You straightened your right hand,
    therefore the earth opened up and swallowed them.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “When you stretched out right hand your, ground swallowed enemies our (incl.).” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “When you stretched out your right hand,
    the earth swallowed up our enemies” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "are" constructs denoting God ("stretch")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, nobas-are-ru (伸ばされる) or “stretch” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Exod 15:12

Most translations connect this verse with the preceding verses because it still speaks about the deliverance at the sea. But Muilenburg connects it with the two lines of verse 13 because of the Hebrew style. For one thing, the response in verse 11 concludes the second of the three parts of the song. (See the pattern outlined above.) Furthermore the first word, Thou didst stretch out, is parallel with the first words in the two lines of verse 13, “Thou didst lead” and “Thou didst guide.” There is also a noticeable rhyme in the Hebrew: natitha … nachitha … nehalta.

Thou didst stretch out thy right hand again speaks of Yahweh as having a hand, which represents his power, as in 3.20. Right hand refers back to verse 6. In some languages this first clause may be rendered as “When you stretched out your right hand [or, arm] ….”

The earth swallowed them is a bit surprising, for earth is used rather than “sea.” Some scholars understand earth here to represent the “underworld” (so Fox and Translator’s Old Testament), which would refer to the land beneath the sea, as in Jonah 2.6. But even with this interpretation there is no need to change earth to “underworld.” The word for swallowed literally means to gulp down, suggesting swift action and sudden death. This vividly describes how the forces of nature are completely under Yahweh’s power. Them is translated by Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version as “enemies,” but one may also say “the Egyptians.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• When you stretched out your right hand [or, arm], the earth swallowed up your enemies.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .