The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 59:18:
Kupsabiny: “He shall do to evil people according to their deeds. He is angry with those who oppose him and he punishes his enemies. He takes revenge on the lands that touch the ocean.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Like they have done, he will pay them back, with anger he will give punishment to those who do hostility and [he] will take revenge on the enemies. Like the ones of the lands of the islands have done to them, he will take revenge.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He will-take-revenge to his enemies according to their deeds; including those who are in the far places. They will- surely -experience his wrath.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
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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 are (され) 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, s-are-ru (される) or “do/make” is used.
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 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. ).
This verse is a problematic one. Its difficult grammar and the different texts found in the ancient versions have even led some commentators to abandon all attempts to reconstruct the original text. Despite these difficulties the general thrust of the verse is clear (see Good News Translation), so standard translations do not vary widely.
One of the difficulties involves the Hebrew root gml (meaning “to pay back”), which is rendered once as deeds and twice as requital. Requital in English is roughly synonymous with “vengeance/repayment.” Another difficulty is the occurrence twice of the unusual Hebrew expression keʿal, which is rendered According to … so…. But Dead Sea Scrolls contains all these expressions, so there is no reason to suggest any emendation.
According to their deeds, so will he repay: There are two ways to interpret this line: either Yahweh will punish his enemies in a way that is appropriate to the sins they have committed, or he will deal with them in the same way that they themselves dealt with others. The first interpretation seems to be the sense that emerges from most versions, but the second one illustrates a principle that is important in the Old Testament—justice is accomplished when those doing something wrong are punished in the same way they treated others. So According to their deeds may mean in the same way they acted or on the basis of the way they acted. Translators may follow either sense. The pronoun their refers to God’s adversaries/enemies mentioned in the next line. He will repay means he will pay them back for what they have done. Some languages may require an object for the verb repay. If so, see the second example below.
Wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies: These two synonymous parallel statements express God’s “repayment.” God’s wrath refers not just to his angry feelings, but also to his punitive action. God will punish these people in anger for what they have done to others. God’s adversaries/enemies are all those who act unjustly, whether they are people in Judah or foreigners. As we noted above, requital means “repayment” or “vengeance.”
To the coastlands he will render requital: This line is not in Dead Sea Scrolls; Revised English Bible omits it. Some commentators suggest that it is a later addition by an editor to explain that God’s enemies here are not from among the people of Judah, but they are from the coastlands, that is, they are foreigners. We recommend keeping this line since it is in Masoretic Text and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project firmly supports it. The line means the LORD will punish foreigners according to what they have done. For the Hebrew word rendered coastlands, see the comments on 11.11 and 41.1. Here it generally refers to foreign nations, especially those that are distant. Good News Translation says “those who live in distant lands.” Render translates the same Hebrew verb rendered repay in the first line. For this line New International Version says “he will repay the islands their due,” and New Jerusalem Bible is similar with “to the coasts and islands he will repay their due.”
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• On the basis of what they have done, so the LORD will repay;
his anger will be seen against those who oppose him,
his payback against his enemies;
he will repay those in the coastlands.
• Yahweh will repay people according to what they have done;
those who oppose him will experience his anger,
his enemies will be punished,
even those living far away will be punished.
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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