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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, tsukawas-are-ru (遣わされる) or “send” is used.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” 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. Other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as 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. ).
To obey the will is literally “to do the will,” but in biblical language “do” in such a context is equivalent to obey. In many languages, though one can readily say “to obey a person,” it is difficult to say “to obey the will of him who sent me.” However, to obey the will of the one who sent me can be translated “to do what the one who sent me told me to do” or “… wanted me to do.” While it may be difficult to relate this kind of expression to my food, this relation can sometimes be expressed by saying “When I do what the one who sent me wanted me to do, then it is just as though I had eaten food.”
Throughout the Gospel of John, God is frequently referred to as the one who sent Jesus (see 3.17,34; 5.36,38; 6.29,57; 7.28-29; 8.42; 10.36; 11.42; 17.8,18,21,23,25; 20.21).
Good News Translation makes explicit the meaning of the Greek phrase “his work” by translating the work he gave me to do; otherwise it would sound as though Jesus had been sent to finish some work that God had left undone. And to finish the work he gave me to do is essentially an amplification of to obey the will of the one who sent me. It may be made clear in some languages by translating “to do what the one who sent me wanted me to do, that is, to finish the work which he gave me to do.” The translation must not imply a contradiction between “obeying the will” and “finishing the work.” They are two aspects of essentially the same act of obedience.
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 .
My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me: Jesus used a metaphor to indicate that obeying God satisfied him like food.
Here are different ways to translate this clause:
• Keep the metaphor. For example:
This is what I eat, my doing the will of God, who sent me. -or-
Doing what God, the one who sent me, wants is what feeds me.
• Change the metaphor into a simile. For example:
It is like I am eating when I do the will of him who sent me
• Change the metaphor to a simile and include some explanation of the simile. For example:
Fulfilling the will of God who sent me is like my food because that is what gives me strength
My food: This phrase is a metaphor that refers to something that provided necessities to Jesus. You may say that in other ways. For example:
It is like what I eat -or-
For me it is meat and drink (Revised English Bible)
Him who sent Me: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Him who sent Me refers to God, who sent Jesus. In some languages it may be natural to translate this as a separate sentence. For example:
My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me. (Contemporary English Version) -or-
I feel satisfied when I am doing what God told me to do. God is the one who sent me ⌊to earth⌋ .
to finish His work: This phrase means to finish doing all that God wants. There are three ways of understanding this phrase:
(1) It refers in general to being completely obedient to God.
(2) It refers particularly to Jesus’ death on the cross.
(3) It refers to the specific work there at Sychar.
It is recommended that you translate this phrase literally so that all three options are included. Here are other ways to translate it:
to fulfill the work which he enables me to do -or-
finishing the work he has given me (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English) -or-
to do what he wants me to do until it is completed
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