addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.

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 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 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.”

In Dutch, Afrikaans, Gronings, and Western Frisian translations, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also formal pronoun: disciples addressing Jesus, female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

complete verse (Isaiah 38:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 38:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “It pained me a lot
    because he wanted life for me.
    I thank (him) because he saved me.
    He forgave me for all my sin/evil.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Certainly it was for my development that I had to eat trouble like this.
    Having loved me
    you delivered me from going to the grave.
    You have forgiven all my sins.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(It is) true that what I have-suffered is for my benefit. Because of your (sing.) love, you (sing.) have-saved me from destruction and you (sing.) forgave my sins.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Truly, my suffering was good for me;
    you loved me,
    and as a result you have rescued me from dying
    and have also forgiven all my sins.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Japanese honorifics (Isaiah 38:17)

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 morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, nageya-rare-ru (投げやられる) or “hurl” and hanas-are-ru (離される) or “separate” are used.

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

Translation commentary on Isaiah 38:17

In this verse Hezekiah continues to praise God for sparing his life.

Lo highlights the words that follow. New Revised Standard Version and New International Version say “Surely,” while New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Truly.”

It was for my welfare that I had great bitterness is literally “for peace bitterness to me bitterness.” The Hebrew word for “peace” (shalom) is better rendered welfare in this context. Hezekiah recognizes that his past suffering has been beneficial for him. Some commentators suggest removing the second occurrence of “bitterness.” However, it is repeated for emphasis, so translators should express this in some way. Revised Standard Version does it by saying great bitterness. For bitterness see verse 15. There is no verb in this clause in Hebrew. RSV/NRSV and New International Version supply “was,” and Revised English Bible inserts “had … been.” These translations correctly regard Hezekiah’s suffering as belonging to the past. Good News Translation uses future tense, but this does not fit the context.

But thou hast held back my life from the pit of destruction: The common Hebrew conjunction rendered but (also New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible) may be left implied since the relationship between these two lines and the previous two is unclear. Revised Standard Version slightly emends the Hebrew text of Masoretic Text here. Instead of held back, Masoretic Text has a verb that means “to love” or “to be attached to.” Many translations follow the same reading as Revised Standard Version; for example, Good News Translation and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh say “save[d],” while Revised English Bible and New American Bible use “preserved.” However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that Masoretic Text be retained. New International Version does this by rendering these two lines as “In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction.” Revised English Bible is similar with “but your love saved me from….” Translators may follow Masoretic Text or the emended text here. The Hebrew word rendered pit occurs rarely and only in poetry (see Psa 103.4; Jonah 2.6). The pit of destruction (literally “the pit of wearing out”) may be rendered “the grave” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “death” (Bible en français courant). Good News Translation has “all danger,” but we do not recommend this.

For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back: The connector for introduces these two lines as the reason for God’s preservation of Hezekiah’s life. He did it because he forgave the king’s sins. Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back is a metaphor for forgiveness, as clarified in Good News Translation. We may also say “you have put my sins behind you,” or even “you have turned your back on my sins.” Bible en français courant has “you have thrown all my sins far behind you.”

We suggest the following translation examples for this verse:

• Truly, to endure great suffering was for my well-being.
You have preserved my life from death’s destruction,
because you have turned your back on all my sins.

• Truly, it was for my welfare that I underwent great anguish;
but your love has saved me from death’s pit of destruction,
because you have thrown away all my sins [or, guilt] far behind 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 .