LORD God / Lord God

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “Lord God” or “Lord God” encountered an issue in Tok Pisin. Norm Mundhenk explains why (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 442ff. ):

“I am not aware of any serious objections to either the word God [for “God”] or Bikpela [for YHWH] alone. However, when trying to translate the expression ‘the Lord God,’ the translators first tried to use Bikpela God. But Bikpela is also an adjective meaning ‘big’ and in the expression Bikpela God, it would usually be understood as “Big God,’ as though there were other smaller gods around also.

“In the Old Testament, as the recent articles have clearly pointed out, the English word ‘Lord‘ often stands for the Hebrew name of God, YHWH, which is usually spelled these days as Yahweh. With this in mind, the name Yawe was tried in Tok Pisin, but it was felt that most readers did not connect this strange name with God. Eventually, we decided to keep Bikpela, but to translate ‘Lord God’ as God, Bikpela, literally ‘God, the Lord.’

“The reason for this decision was really only that the words could be used naturally in this order, without the problem of giving a wrong meaning which we had when putting Bikpela first. It was not until some people asked if it was right to ‘turn around’ the name and the title in this way that we realized that there was really a deeper reason for doing what we did. In fact, for most speakers of Tok Pisin, God is the only God they know, and it seems likely that God is understood as the personal name of God, rather than as a class name. Bikpela, on the other hand, is a class name — there can be more than one Bikpela, though it is recognized that God is the greatest of them and there is no confusion when he is referred to simply as Bikpela. Thus, in Hebrew an expression like ‘YHWH, the God of Israel,’ has the personal name first, followed by the class name explaining who he is. And we have exactly the same situation in Tok Pisin when we say God, Bikpela bilong Isrel. I suspect that in many other languages which have borrowed the word ‘God,’ we might find that it has been borrowed basically as a personal name, rather than as a class name.”

complete verse (Ezekiel 21:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 21:26:

  • Kupsabiny: “I the God of power is saying: Remove your hat of rulership and everything related to that. Things will no longer be like this. The weak shall be raised up and those who have power shall be pulled down!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I, the Lord GOD, say: Take-off your turban and crown, for everything is-different now. The lowly will-become honorable, and the honorable will-become lowly.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “And this is what Yahweh the Lord says to you soldiers from Babylonia: ‘Take off the king’s turban and his crown, because now things will be different than they were before. Thosein Jerusalem who had no authority will now be given authority, and those who had authority will have their authority taken from them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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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 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 21:26

Thus says the Lord GOD: See verse 24. Again this traditional prophetic formula draws attention to an important message of God.

Remove the turban, and take off the crown: As punishment for his sins, Zedekiah will lose his kingly position. A king wore a turban and a crown on his head as symbols of his royal position. A turban was a band of cloth that the wearer wrapped repeatedly around the upper part of his head and tucked in the end. For crown see 16.12. To make some distinction between them, and especially in languages where there is no word for crown, translators may render these two clauses as “Remove the king’s head cloth and hat” or “Take off the cloths the king wears on his head.” In Hebrew the verbs for Remove and take off may be addressed to Zedekiah (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New English Bible, Bible en français courant), but they may also be impersonal, addressed to nobody in particular, so Jerusalem Bible says “They will take away your turban and remove your crown” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible).

Things shall not remain as they are is literally “this not this.” This clause seems to be an idiom or proverbial saying about the situation of life changing. When Zedekiah loses his authority, everything will be turned upside down. Translators are encouraged to find an indigenous saying with this meaning. New Century Version says “Things will change,” Contemporary English Version has “everything will be different,” Good News Translation uses “Nothing will be the same again,” and Moffatt translates “turn things upside down.” If a general saying is not available, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides a model for making the saying specific to Zedekiah, saying “Your rule is at an end!”

Exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high is an example of turning things upside down. Exalt means to lift up or make high, abase means to make low. This is figurative language (compare 17.24), similar to Jesus’ words “the last will be first and the first last” (Matt 20.16). Although it is a general saying here, it applies to Zedekiah since he will lose his kingship and become a prisoner. Therefore it is not appropriate to make this saying apply to the “poor” as Good News Translation does. Better models are “Those who had no power will be put in charge, and those who now rule will become nobodies” (Contemporary English Version) and “Those who are important now will be made unimportant, and those who are unimportant now will be made important” (New Century Version).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .