Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 12:17:
Kupsabiny: “He takes knowledge from judges so they go empty/with nothing and he makes leaders to become fools.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “He turns counselors into ones who have no wisdom, and He turns judges into fools.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He vanishes the wisdom of the advisers, and he causes- those-who-judge -to-become-crazy/fool.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “He sometimes causes the king’s officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 the latter two 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. ).
In verses 17-21 Job describes how God can discredit and bring down leaders of society. He leads counselors away stripped: counselors translates a term for officials in 3.14 who are ranked with kings. Bible en français courant calls them “great men of state,” and Good News Translation “rulers.” They may also be advisers to the king. Stripped translates a word used only here, in verse 19, and in Micah 1.8, where it means “barefooted.” According to Dhorme, to go barefooted is the sign of extreme grief. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project does not support any change in the text but considers the received Hebrew text an “A” reading and suggests the meaning “despoiled,” which means to plunder or rob. Good News Translation “takes away the wisdom of rulers” expresses the same idea in more general terms. Bible en français courant agrees with Dhorme: “He makes great men of state go barefooted.” Gordis suggests that the meaning “stripped of clothes” has an extended sense meaning “stripped of sense,” and so “mad” or “crazy.” Translators should render stripped in such a way that the symbolic meaning is clear. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates in its text “He causes the wise to lose their intelligence,” and in the margin gives what it says represents the Hebrew: “He removes the wise from their positions.” The line may also be expressed “He takes from the leaders their wisdom” or “He causes the rulers to be dumb.”
And judges he makes fools: judges translates the same word used in 9.24 “He covers the faces of its judges” (Revised Standard Version). Judges are a class of authorities or rulers and not just court judges. Makes fools translates a verb meaning “drive someone mad” in the sense of causing them to loose their mind or become crazy. This line may be expressed, for example, “He also causes those in authority to go crazy,” “He also makes the chiefs of the people to lose their minds,” or “He makes the chiefs to become like mad men.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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