In Russian, the phrase капля из ведра (kaplya iz vedra) or “a drop from a bucket” is widely used in many variations as an idiom in every-day life referring to situations when some actions are considered to be too little to make a change. The wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 86)
gentiles / nations
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
See also nations.
complete verse (Isaiah 40:15)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 40:15:
- Kupsabiny: “Countries are small in relation to God.
(They) are like water that drips
and they are light/weak like dust.
God is seeing
countries that touches the ocean,
they are weak like dust.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation) - Newari: “The nations are only like a drop in a bucket.
They are like dust clinging to the scales.
He weighs the islands like dust.” (Source: Newari Back Translation) - Hiligaynon: “The truth is, the nations are just like a drop in a bucket/pail, or dust on the scales. To God, the islands are just as light as dust.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “God, although we cannot see you,
you are the one to whom we Israeli people belong, the one who saves us.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
pronoun for "God"
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 Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of system of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):
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 the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both 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. ).
See also first person pronoun referring to God.
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .
Translation: Chinese
在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。
到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。
然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）
《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”
Translator: Simon Wong
Translation commentary on Isaiah 40:15
In verses 15-17 the prophet makes several observations, in response to his rhetorical questions in verses 12-14. The overall theme of verses 15-17 is that even the most powerful nations of the world are insignificant in comparison to Yahweh. The opening word Behold calls attention to the observations in these verses.
The nations are like a drop from a bucket: The Hebrew noun translated nations normally refers to nations other than Israel (see 2.2), as it does here. Some of the nations in view here are the powerful empires of Babylonia and Persia. This word also occurs in verse 17 as an inclusio for the responses in verses 15-17. The simile like a drop from a bucket obviously refers to a drop of water from a full bucket. The point of the comparison is smallness. In God’s eyes even powerful nations are as insignificant as a drop of water. A bucket is a large container that can hold water. Good News Translation does not mention it (or the scales in the next line), but translators should keep it if possible. Bible en français courant translates the whole line as “Before the Lord the nations do not count more than a drop of water that falls from a bucket.”
And are accounted as the dust on the scales: The verb are accounted also occurs in verse 17, so it forms another inclusio for verses 15-17. This verb may be rendered simply as “are” (Contemporary English Version) here. As the dust on the scales is another simile that has smallness as its point of comparison. In God’s eyes the nations are as insignificant as a speck of dust, which does not weigh anything. The Hebrew root word for dust refers to fine powder. Scales renders the same Hebrew word as the one translated “balance” in verse 12 (see the comments there).
Behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust: The word behold is repeated to draw attention again to the insignificance of the nations. The meaning of the Hebrew verb rendered takes up is uncertain. It probably means “to weigh,” as it does in Syriac. Most versions use the verb “weigh” (for example, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). Also, it is better read as a plural verb, as in the Septuagint. This would make the isles the subject rather than God, so the whole line is literally “behold, the isles weigh like fine dust.” Isles is parallel to nations in the first line, so the two words are close in meaning. The Hebrew word rendered isles refers to the islands and coastal areas of the world, especially those of the Mediterranean Sea (see the comments on 11.11, where the same word is rendered “coastlands”). The Israelites believed these areas were at the far ends of the world. Like fine dust is parallel to the simile in the previous line. Since this line and the previous one are close in meaning, Good News Translation combines them, which is acceptable. Bible en français courant keeps both lines, saying “[the nations do not count more than …] or than a grain of sand on a pair of scales. The distant populations do not weigh more than a speck of dust.”
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• See, the nations are as small as a drop [of water] from a bucket,
they are nothing more than dust on a pair of scales;
see, the [faraway] islands weigh only as much as fine dust.
• Look, the nations are like a drop of water [from a bucket],
they are merely dust on scales;
look, the distant islands weigh no more than a speck of dust.
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 .
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