Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Habakkuk 3:5:
Kupsabiny: “Plague went before him so that sickness followed behind.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Before him disease is spreading fast, epidemics are following in his footsteps” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “You (sing.) will-bring destruction/disaster/plague in your (sing.) arriving.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “There-are two fearful/dangerous-things that go-with him: the serious sickness that he causes-to-precede, and the death that he causes-to-follow.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “He sent plagues in front of him, and other plagues came behind him.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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. ).
Some scholars think that here pestilence and plague are personified and spoken of as if they were the LORD’s attendants whose work was to punish his enemies. Diseases were thought of as one of the accompaniments of war (compare 2 Kgs 19.35), and the LORD was often pictured as punishing his enemies with disease (Lev 26.25; Deut 32.24; 2 Sam 24.15-16) or saving his own people from it (Psa 91.3, 6). Such a picture is in keeping with the wider context of verses 3-15. God is still being thought of as directing his actions toward the prophet, and then more widely toward the rest of the world’s inhabitants as they watch him acting in the skies above. Possible translation models in languages which must show the direction of actions are the following: “He sends disease (coming) before him” or “He causes disease to come (down) before him.”
The word translated plague is originally a darting flame and can be used of lightning (Psa 78.48). Fever, the disease which makes people feel hot, was thought to be caused by such flames.
The terms translated pestilence and plague do not refer to any of the specific illnesses known to modern medicine. They are general terms and should be translated by generic words like “disease” or “illness” rather than by specific terms like “malaria” or “typhoid.” Good News Translation renders them as “disease” and “death.” “Death” indicates that the illness is fatal.
Good News Translation has also restructured the sentence to show that God is the agent who is in control of the diseases (“He sends … and commands”). In certain languages it will be helpful to expand this verse slightly and say “He sends disease to go in front of him, and commands death to follow close behind him.”
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 .
3:5a Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps.
He sends a deadly disease before him. Illness comes behind/after him. -or-
⌊There will be two fearful/dangerous things that⌋ will go together with Yahweh. These will be a serious sickness and death. -or-
O Yahweh, you (sing.) will come ⌊to punish your enemies⌋ with a deadly sickness.
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