formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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.

Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

See also formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese).

complete verse (Matthew 10:30)

Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 10:30:

  • Uma: “Yet God’s care for you surpasses [that]. He knows you so well, even the number of your hairs God counts and knows all.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, more so you, God will not forget you. Even of your hair he knows as to how many there are.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But as for you, his care for you is far greater, because even the hairs of your head, he has counted them already.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Especially-more you people! Because even your hairs, he knows their number.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But he values you much more. The truth is, even your hair, he has all of it counted.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Very much does God care for you. Even your hairs are counted one by one.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Gun: “Concerning you, it is the counting of all the hair that is on your head that God knows.” (Gun does not use the passive voice so an agent had to be chosen) (Source: Emmanuel K. Kogon in The Bible Translator 2017, p. 238ff. )

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Matthew 10:30

But even … of your head. In Greek the possessive pronoun your is given the position of emphasis: “As for you” (Good News Translation, New American Bible, New English Bible) and “And so it is with you” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition). Bible de Jérusalem translates the verse “And you also! Your hairs themselves are all counted!”

Even the hairs of your head are all numbered (Good News Translation “… have all been counted”) may be altered to an active form: “Your Father even knows how many hairs are on your head.” The point of the saying is to express God’s intimate concern for his people, and to refer to him as “Father” would link the saying closely with the previous verse.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Matthew 10:30

10:30

And: There is a comparison and contrast between birds in 10:29a and people here in 10:30. Jesus used the argument that if God cares for small birds, which are not worth much, this indicates that he is even more concerned with every detail of people’s lives.

Some English versions are like the English Standard Version and introduce this comparison and contrast with the word “But.” Other versions are like the Berean Standard Bible and New International Version and introduce this comparison and contrast with an And. Still other versions such as the Good News Translation allow the context to indicate the comparison and contrast.

Use what is natural in your language for introducing this comparison and contrast.

even the very hairs of your head are all numbered: This clause means that God knows the exact number of hairs on each person’s head. This clause does not refer to each hair having a number assigned to it.

This clause is passive. Here are some other ways to translate it:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

even the hairs of your head are all counted (New Revised Standard Version)

• Use an active verb. For example:

God even knows how many hairs are on your head. (New Century Version)

your: The pronoun your is emphasized in the Greek by being first in the clause. If you have a natural way to emphasize the pronoun, you may want to do so. For example:

As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted (Good News Translation)

© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.