addressing God

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 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 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.”

In Dutch, Afrikaans, Gronings, and Western Frisian translations, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also formal pronoun: disciples addressing Jesus, female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Father (address for God)

The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )

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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. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.”

If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also Lord and my / our Father.

Translation commentary on John 17:5

Father was the word by which Jesus addressed God at the beginning of this prayer (verse 1). In Greek, this entire verse reads literally “and now glorify me, Father, in your presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was created.” The phrase “and now” (Good News Translation now) is used to strengthen the request made in verse 1. This conclusion is supported by the observation that the pronouns you and me are emphatic in the Greek sentence structure (“You” is not expressed explicitly in Good News Translation, though it is implicit in the verb Give). Here again Goodspeed makes explicit the idea of doing honor (“Now, Father, do such honor to me in your presence as I had done me there before the world existed”). Barclay reads “And now, Father, give me in your own presence the glory which I had with you before the world came into existence” and New American Bible has “Do you now, Father, give me glory at your side, a glory I had with you before the world began.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch telescopes by not repeating the word glory and by seeing essentially the same meaning in the verse: “Father, give me now again the glory which I had with you before the world was created.”

In this context it is not possible to treat Give me glory in the same way as in contexts where the focus is upon the revelation of Christ’s glory to the people of the world. The emphasis here is upon the glorious state which Christ had before the incarnation, and thus quite a different type of rendering must be employed. Moreover, a literal rendering of “giving glory” is usually impossible. The more common type of expression would be causative, for example, “cause me to be glorious” or “cause me to be honored” or “show honor to me” or even “honor me.”

In your presence may be rendered “where you are” or “there where you are.”

Since, in some languages, glory cannot be used as a noun, the explanatory clause, the same glory I had with you before the world was made, may be restructured to read “honor me in the same way you did before the world was made” or “… before you made the world.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on John 17:5

17:5a–b

Jesus asked God to restore to him the glory and honor that he always had before he became a man. In eternity past, before the world began, he lived with God and shared God’s glory. Now he prayed that he might return to his Father and enjoy again the glory of his Father. See the General Comment on 17:5a–b for suggestions on how to rearrange the information in this verse.

In the Greek text there are two forms of the word meaning “glory”: “glorify me…with the glory I had.” However, in some languages it is not natural or possible to say that someone “glorifies” someone “with glory.” It may be possible to avoid this problem either by combining 17:5a–b, or by separating them into two clauses. For example:

Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Now, Father, bring me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
And, now, Father, give me glory with you; give me the glory I had with you before the world was made. (New Century Version)

17:5a

And now: The Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek phrase literally as And now. The phrase introduces Jesus repeating what he asked for in 17:1 with more emphasis. The word now here refers to the immediate future. At that time Jesus would glorify the Father by finishing the work the Father gave him (see 17:4). Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

Now (New Jerusalem Bible)

Father: This word is one that a child would use when speaking to his father. It indicates affection and respect. See the note and how you translated the word in 17:1.

glorify Me: In the Greek the clause that the Berean Standard Bible has translated as glorify Me makes the subject “you” (singular) explicit. This emphasizes the contrast with the subject “I” in 17:4a (“I glorified you”). Consider if in your language there is a polite way to emphasize the subject of a request. For example:

Would/Will you ⌊please⌋ now glorify me!
-or-

⌊I pray that⌋ you would glorify me.

glorify: Here this verb refers to causing Christ to live in divine glory and majesty. Jesus had lived in humility and poverty as a man. Now he asked to be restored to his former status and the honor that he deserved. See Key Biblical Terms Glory, Glorious, Glorify C. 3. Here are other ways to translate this word:

give me glory (New Century Version)
-or-
honour me (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

in Your presence: This phrase means “where you are.” Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

with you (New Century Version)
-or-
when I am with you
-or-
when I return to you

17:5b

with the glory I had with You before the world existed: This expression tells about the glory that Jesus prayed for. He asked God to restore the glory that he had before the world began. Here are other ways to translate this expression:

give me the glory I had with you before the world was made (New Century Version)
-or-
bring me again the honor I shared with you before the creation of the world
-or-
as I was honored in your presence before the world began

I had with You: This clause means “that I always had/enjoyed when I was with you in heaven.” Jesus lived with God in heaven and shared his glory.

before the world existed: This clause means “before the earth was created.” This phrase refers to eternity past (going forever back in time), before God created the universe. Express this clause in the way that is natural in your language. For example:

before the earth was created (NET Bible)
-or-
before there was a world at all

General Comment on 17:5a–b

In some languages it is more natural to rearrange parts of the sentence, putting the information in chronological order. For example:

5b Father, before the earth was created/established, I was in your presence in glory. 5a Now, as I return to you, please let me have/receive this glory again.
-or-

5b Before the world existed, I was honored as I lived in your presence. 5a Father, please give me again this honor.

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