וַיִּקְרָ֣א בְאָזְנַ֗י ק֤וֹל גָּדוֹל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר קָרְב֖וּ פְּקֻדּ֣וֹת הָעִ֑יר וְאִ֛ישׁ כְּלִ֥י מַשְׁחֵת֖וֹ בְּיָדֽוֹ׃
Ezekiel 9
The Slaughter of the Idolaters
1Then he cried in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Draw near, you executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.”
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “with a loud voice” in English is translated in Low German idiomatically as luuthals or “loud-throated” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).
It is also used in Acts 19:28 for krazó (κράζω).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 9:1:
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
See also first person pronoun referring to God.
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .
在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。
到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。
然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）
《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”
Translator: Simon Wong
Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying: God continues to speak, now not just to Ezekiel, but loudly so that many people can hear. For clarity some translations render the pronoun he as “God” (Good News Translation) or “the LORD” (Contemporary English Version). Cried in my ears with a loud voice does not mean God shouted into Ezekiel’s ears, but it means Ezekiel could hear what God was saying, even though God was not talking to him. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “called loudly in my hearing” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, New King James Version ). This phrase is a play on words with the phrase in 8.18 (“cry in my ears with a loud voice”), where the words are almost the same in Hebrew but the meaning is different. Good News Translation has a good model for this clause, saying “Then I heard God shout.” Parole de Vie leaves implied the fact that Ezekiel could hear what God shouted and has simply “The LORD cried with a loud voice.” The verb saying is also left implied in most languages, but others have kept it by saying “Then Yahweh cried out loudly. He said.”
Draw near, you executioners of the city: This clause has a number of possible meanings. The Hebrew noun rendered executioners comes from a root meaning “be in charge of,” “inspect,” “visit,” or “punish.” Here it appears to be an abstract noun meaning “punishments” (so Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), but since they each have a weapon, this sense is rather awkward. As a result, most versions have rendered it as a personal noun, for example, “those who are in charge” of the city (so New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “those who are about to punish” the city (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). Either one of these meanings fits this context. The sense of the Hebrew verb rendered Draw near is also uncertain. The verb may be a simple imperative (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant), a causative imperative (so New International Version, King James Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982)), or a simple past (so Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). If it is a simple imperative, God is commanding the punishments or those who will inflict the punishment to come near and be ready to start. A rendering that expresses this is “Come here” (New Jerusalem Bible). If it is causative imperative, God is addressing some unidentified persons or angels to bring them near. A model that reflects this is “Have them come near” or “Bring them near.” If it is a simple present, God is declaring that the judgment has come and is ready to start. The Septuagint takes it in this third way, rendering this whole clause as “The judgment has come near the city.” However, most modern versions find it more attractive to read an imperative here because it sets the scene for the appearance of the six men in verse 2. On balance, the interpretation of the Septuagint is preferable, but fortunately, the overall meaning of the three alternatives differs little. The message of all three is that the judgment of the city was about to start. The city is Jerusalem. For some translators who choose to use the imperative, it is more natural to address the executioners before ordering them to approach. A model that does this is “Those of you who are meant to punish the city, come now.”
Each with his destroying weapon in his hand: Each punishment, or each man who will inflict the punishment, is to come with his destroying weapon, that is, a weapon for destroying. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) identifies this weapon as a “sword,” but in verse 2 it is called literally “weapon of shattering/smashing.” It was more likely a club, so it is better to use a more general expression here, such as “deadly weapon” (New King James Version ) or “killing stick.” Some translations make this last phrase a separate sentence, saying “Each of you should have your weapon of destruction with you.”
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 .
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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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