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 38:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 38:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “The people who are alive praise you
    like when I trust you today.
    The elders say to their children
    that (people) should trust in you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Only the living and those who are alive will praise you,
    just as I am doing today.
    A father to his own son
    will describe your faithfulness.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The living-ones are the only ones who can-praise you (sing.) as what I am doing now. Each generation will-tell to the next generation of your (sing.) faithfulness.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Only people who are still alive, like I am, can praise you.
    Fathers tell their children how you are faithful,
    and if I remain alive, I will do the same thing.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 38:19

The living, the living, he thanks thee: In contrast to the dead who cannot praise God, Hezekiah exclaims here that it is only the living who can praise him. Translators may begin with the connector “But” to mark the contrast between this verse and the previous one. The Hebrew word rendered The living is singular, but it has a collective sense. It refers to all those who are alive. It may be rendered as a plural, and so may the pronoun he (see Good News Translation). The repetition of the living at the beginning of the verse makes it emphatic. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch puts it in focus by beginning with “Only the living” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant), and Good News Translation does it with “It is the living who….” Thanks (Good News Translation “praise”) translates the same Hebrew verb as in the previous verse (see the comments there).

As I do this day: Hezekiah applies the general principle in the previous line to himself. Since he is alive, he can praise God now. He implies here an urgent request to remain among the living.

The father makes known to the children thy faithfulness: These two lines express a general truth. Parents tell their children how faithful God is. Hezekiah uses this truth to make another indirect appeal to God to spare his life. If he recovers, he will be able to teach his children about God’s faithfulness. The singular expression the father does not refer to a single person but to parents in general. Both parents, not just the father, were responsible to pass on traditions (see Pro 1.8), so both Good News Translation and Bible en français courant say “Parents.” Children is literally “sons,” but both sons and daughters are in view here, so Revised Standard Version‘s rendering is good. Thy faithfulness provides an obvious link with the previous verse, making the contrast between these two verses even stronger. The dead cannot hope for God’s faithfulness; only the living can teach their children about it!

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• But it is the living, only the living, who praise you,
just as I am doing today.
Parents teach their children about your faithfulness.

• The living, indeed only the living, are the ones who praise you,
just as I do today.
Parents teach their children how faithful you are.

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 .