Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Habakkuk 1:14:
Kupsabiny: “But you have abandoned us to be like fish that are caught and killed. Or, we are like animals who crawl on the ground who have no leader who is their helper.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “You have made people like the fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “You (sing.) made their enemies as-if like fishes, that have-no leader/[lit. head] to defend them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But in contrast, like the oceans are filled with water, the earth will be filled with people who know that Yahweh is very great.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.
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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.”
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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, s-are-ru (される) or “do/make” is used.
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Verses 14-17 give a figurative description of the way the Babylonians treat their enemies. Verse 14 gives the setting, verses 15-16 describe what happens, and verse 17 states the question which the situation raises in the prophet’s mind.
In verse 14, thou makest, Habakkuk boldly blames God for bringing about the conditions under which the Babylonians can abuse their power. In some languages it may be necessary to say “You cause men to become…” or “You allow men to become….” He uses two comparisons: thou makest men like the fish of the sea and like crawling things that have no ruler. The point of the comparison with crawling things is that they have no leaders to help defend them. The point of the comparison with the fish is not stated here, but in the light of the following verse, it seems to be the casual way in which people kill them without worrying about it. Perhaps this can be brought out by saying “treat people as if they were only fish” or “… as if they were no more important than fish.”
Fish of the sea is a Hebrew expression which sounds rather odd in English. Some modern translations say “fish (or, fishes) in the sea” (Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible, New International Version), but Good News Translation recognizes that “fish” alone is sufficient (compare Good News Translation Zeph 1.3). Translators should consider what expression sounds natural and appropriate in their own language.
Crawling things may refer either to small “sea creatures” (New International Version) or to “a swarm of insects” (Good News Translation) such as ants or locusts. In languages which do not have a general word which equals the English word “insects” in meaning, one may say “a swarm of tiny crawling creatures,” or even “a swarm of ants.” The point here is that they “have no ruler” and are therefore disorganized and defenseless. This is a forceful picture of the way other nations were helpless before the Babylonian armies.
This verse is a statement in Hebrew, but Good News Translation has turned it into a rhetorical question, “How can you treat…?” as has New English Bible. There is no great advantage in this, and few translators will wish to do the same. However, the sense of the Hebrew in the phrase thou makest men like shows a direct causative action by God rather than a more passive one as in Good News Translation‘s “How can you treat people….” Therefore the following are legitimate translations: “You cause people to become…” or “You allow people to become….” Another translation model for this verse is “You cause people to become like mere fish, or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct (or, lead) them.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Habakkuk. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
You (sing.) allow people to become as the fish in the sea, -or-
You cause people to become as ⌊if they were no more important than⌋ fish in the sea. -or-
You behave like people ⌊have no more value than⌋ fish.
1:14b like creeping things that have no ruler.
or as crawling creatures without anyone to rule them. -or-
⌊You (sing.) left them⌋ like crawling animals without a ruler/leader ⌊to guide/lead/defend them⌋ .
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