“One group relates to the Greek verb that means ‘to show, make known or reveal God’s glory to people.’ The word ‘glory’ here retains the same sense described in the first group. (See glory (of God or Jesus))
“[Here] we used the expressions ‘show (the Father’s) greatness,’ ’cause the people to recognize that God is great,” “make his greatness obvious, apparent.’
“John 14:13, for example, ‘that the Father may be glorified,’ is rendered as ‘so that I can show the people the greatness of my Father.’ On one occasion (John 17:10 ‘I am glorified in them’), we used ‘because of them people saw my greatness.’
John 14:13 ‘Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified.’
John 17:1 ‘Father, … glorify thy Son that the Son may glorify thee.’
In Hindi a differentiation is made between the way that the different persons of the Trinity are addressed by a regular person or by another person of the Trinity. When Jesus addresses God the Father or when God the Father addresses Jesus, a familiar form of address is used, unlike the way that any of them would be addressed with a honorific (pl.) form by anyone else.
Following are a number of back-translations of John 17:4:
Uma: “In this world I showed the bigness of your life, Father, I have completed the work which you gave me.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “I have made you great/honored you here in the world, for I have finished now the work you have given me to do.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Here on the earth I have shown your great power, because the works that you commanded me I have finished them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “I have been showing your (sing.) godhood in this world, because I absolutely fulfilled/obeyed what you (sing.) gave-me -to-do.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I have now shown your glory here under the heavens for I have now completed all you are causing me to do.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I caused the people here on earth to know that you are the greatest. I finished the work you ordered me to do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.
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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 Translator2002, 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.”
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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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
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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 choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, ataete (与えて) or “give” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
I have shown your glory, (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) is rendered “I glorified you” by most translators; Goodspeed and New American Bible make a different emphasis (Goodspeed “I have done honor to you”; and New American Bible “I have given you glory”). Once more the choice is between the meaning “give glory to” and “reveal the glory of.” In the light of the whole context of this prayer (note especially verse 6 I have made you known), the meaning “to reveal the glory of” is more appropriate.
The second clause, I have finished the work you gave me to do, is more closely tied to the first clause, I showed your glory on earth, than may be indicated in Good News Translation. These are not two separate actions. Rather the second clause indicates the means by which God’s glory was revealed, that is, “by finishing the work you gave me to do.” Note New English Bible “I have glorified thee on earth by completing the work which thou gavest me to do” and New American Bible “I have given you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “I have made known your glory on earth; for I have accomplished the task which you gave me.”
The verbs have shown and have finished are in the aorist tense in Greek, and so point to Jesus’ work as already accomplished. The use of the aorist may reflect either Jesus’ own certainty that his end was at hand or the temporal perspective of the Gospel writer.
Certain complications are involved in translating I have finished the work you gave me to do. Work might conceivably refer only to physical activity, and in some languages one cannot speak of “giving work.” Therefore one may need to restructure the second part of verse 4 to read “I finished doing what you told me to do.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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