vanity

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “vanity,” “emptiness,” “breath,” or similar in English is translated in Mandarin Chinese as xūkōng (虚空) or “hollow,” “empty.” This is a term that is loaned from Buddhist terminology where it is used for Akasha (Sanskrit: आकाश). (Source: Zetzsche)

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.

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 16:19

My strength may need to be restructured after the fashion of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “you give me strength.” Good News Translation is similar, though it reverses the order of strength and stronghold: “you are the one who protects me and gives me strength.” The noun rendered stronghold occurs only here in the book of Jeremiah; in the Old Testament it is most frequently used of a place of protection such as a fortress.

The Hebrew word for refuge is used only seven other times in the Hebrew Old Testament, including two other places in Jeremiah (25.35; 46.5, where Revised Standard Version has “in haste”). Trouble is first used in 4.31, where it is rendered “anguish.” Good News Translation renders my refuge in the day of trouble as “you help me in times of trouble,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I can run to you in time of danger.” It can also be expressed as “you are the one who protects me in times of trouble.”

To thee shall the nations come is not natural English word order; Good News Translation has “Nations will come to you.” However, the Hebrew text does emphasize to thee, and translators may be able to retain this with a rendering such as “You are the one the nations come to,” or they may place this emphasis earlier in the verse, as in Good News Translation (“you are the one”).

The expression from the ends of the earth is an idiom that means “from everywhere on earth.” Translators should use whatever the normal expression is in their language to convey this meaning.

Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies: Fathers (see 2.5) is once again used in the sense of “ancestors” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In this line inherited might better be expressed as “possessed” (New International Version), or be understood as part of a phrase with Our fathers, such as “Our traditional religion” (Bible en français courant). Lies is best understood in the sense of “false gods” (Good News Translation, New International Version). This whole line is translated by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch as “The gods of our ancestors are nothing but frauds.”

Worthless things: See the comment at 2.5. Translators should also see the discussion of “other gods” at 1.16.

In which there is no profit: See the comment at 2.8.

These last two lines may be rendered “Our ancestors possessed only false gods, worthless idols that could do nothing for them” or “Our traditional religion [or, way of worshiping God] was a lie. We worshiped worthless things that could do nothing for us.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .