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 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.
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.
The name that is transliterated as “Joseph” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying “woodworker” (referring to Mark 6:3). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 11:9:
Uma: “So, what did you go wanting to see? Perhaps you wanted to see a prophet? If so, that is very true. Because Yohanes is greater than the other prophets.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Na, why did you go? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, the prophet you saw is greater than the other prophets.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “What did you go out there for? Did you go out to see a man inspired by God? That’s really what you went out there to see, because John really is inspired. But John is not only inspired,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Tell then what you went to see? Was it a prophet? Emphatically yes (persuasive particle), but the truth of it is, he is higher/greater than a prophet.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, what really did you want to see there? Was it a prophet? Yes indeed, but he wasn’t just a prophet. This which I will say to you is true that he really is greater than a prophet.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “If that wasn’t it, then whom did you see then? Did you see a spokesman for God? Truly he is a spokesman for God. And he is above all the other spokesmen who have ever lived.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
Cherokee: adolehosgi (ᎠᏙᎴᎰᏍᎩ) or “discoverer of things,” a “term that was was traditionally applied to Cherokee medicine men or women who used divining.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 49)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
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 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.
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).
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®).
Why then did you go out?: then is represented in Good News Translation by “Tell me.” In Greek this conjunction serves to make a transition and to draw a contrast. It can also be rendered “So, then, why…?” or “So I ask you, what…?” or “If not (for these reasons), then why did…?”
To see a prophet? may need the full question form: “Did you come out to see a prophet?” In Greek the form of this question differs from the questions in verses 7 and 8, which expect a negative reply. Here Jesus expects the people to reply “Yes, we came out to see a prophet.” To the questions of verses 7-8 he would expect the reply “No, we did not come out to see a blade of grass … a man dressed in expensive clothes.” As with the earlier questions, so here also a shift may be made to a statement: “You came out to see a prophet” or “Instead you came out….”
There are several ways the meaning of these questions can be expressed. For example, one can say “You went out to see a prophet, didn’t you?” or “So I ask you, why did you go out? It was to see a prophet, wasn’t it?”
For comments on prophet, see 1.22.
Yes, I tell you is similar in form to the expression used in 5.18 and 26, except that here Yes substitutes for “truly.” Once again, translation may necessitate a fuller expression: “I will tell you what you went out to see. You went out to see a prophet. Yes, you went out to see someone who is more than a prophet.”
As can be seen from these examples, how this last sentence is rendered depends on how the rhetorical questions of this and the previous verse were handled. It should always flow well from those questions. Another rendering is “So, I ask you, why did you go out into the desert? It was to see a prophet. But I tell you that you saw much more than just a prophet.”
More than a prophet, in addition to the ways it is expressed in the examples above, can also be “someone much greater than a prophet” or “someone who is more than an ordinary prophet.”
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 .
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