complete verse (Isaiah 26:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 26:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “Oh, God, give peace to the people who hope in you.
    (They) live in peace because they trust in you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “LORD, whoever makes his heart strong,
    you give them complete peace,
    because they trust in you,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘LORD, you (sing.) will-give, a complete peace to man/person whose mind is centered in you (sing.), for he trusts in you (sing.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Yahweh, those who trust in you,
    those who firmly resolve to never doubt you,
    you will enable them to feel perfectly peaceful.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or 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 Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“protect”)

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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 rare (られ) 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, mamo-rare-ru (守られる) or “protect” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Isaiah 26:3

This is a favorite verse for preachers, but they often take it out of context, without regard to its actual meaning. The text is literally “A mind of support you preserve [in] peace, [in] peace because in you confidence.” This means the LORD protects those with steadfast minds because they trust in him.

Thou dost keep him in perfect peace: The pronoun Thou refers to the LORD. Good News Translation and Bible en français courant make this explicit, which may be helpful in other languages. The verb keep refers to his protection. The pronoun him includes men and women in this context, so Good News Translation uses the plural “those.” The Hebrew word for peace (shalom) is repeated here for emphasis. Perfect peace or “complete peace” expresses it well. Translators may keep the repetition if it is appropriate (so New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh does this by rendering it “safety” both times.

Whose mind is stayed on thee: The Hebrew word for mind comes from a root meaning “to form/fashion.” The Hebrew verb here means “being supported/sustained” or “support/sustain.” So this whole line can mean “a mind that is being upheld” (that is, a dependent mind) or “a steadfast mind.” Most translations, including Good News Translation, see it as describing those with a fixed purpose or of firm resolve. Revised Standard Version adds on thee, which could be implied. This line is probably the object of the verb keep. There is emphasis on it in Hebrew since it occurs before the verb. The first two lines may be rendered “You preserve in complete peace those who have a firm resolve.” New International Version is similar with “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast.”

Because he trusts in thee: This gives the reason why the LORD guards a person with a steadfast mind. It is also possible that the Hebrew particle ki rendered because may be an emphatic marker here, so it may be translated “indeed.” Trusts renders a Hebrew noun meaning “confidence,” as in Psa 112.7.

The whole verse may be translated as follows:

• You preserve in complete peace those with a firm resolve
because in you they have confidence.

• You keep in complete peace those whose mind is firm,
indeed, in you is their confidence.

• You preserve in peace those with a firm resolve,
in peace since their confidence is in you.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .