pronoun for "God"

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 Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of system of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

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. ).

See also first person pronoun referring to God.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。

然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

3rd person pronoun with high register (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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”

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

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.

Translation commentary on Matthew 2:2

Born king of the Jews is translated sometimes as “the king of the Jews who was born recently.” Note that their question does imply that this future king was born recently, so that specifying “baby” is accurate. However, this does not mean they thought the baby was king immediately, that is, king at the time of his birth, but was rather “the baby born to be king” or “the baby who will become king.”

For indicates that the wise men are giving the reason they are asking where this baby is. Some languages need a phrase such as “We ask because…” or “We want to know because….” In others, such as English, the relation is understood without being explicit.

His star is thought by some scholars to be a heavenly counterpart of the newborn king. However, the phrase most probably means simply “the star which announced his birth.” As far as translation is concerned, it is not necessary to identify specifically what star or constellation is indicated. In many languages, to say his star would make it seem that he possessed it. Then translators will find “the star which announced his birth” helpful. Other ways may be “the star that relates to him” or “… tells us about him.”

In the East is translated as a complete statement by Good News Translation: “when it came up in the east.” With regard to this phrase, a few commentators state that the meaning “in the east” can be arrived at only with great difficulty, and that the meaning must be “at its rising.” Nevertheless, other commentators and lexicographers supply references where the Greek noun does mean “east” (see Rev 7.2; 16.12; 21.13). The translations are divided. Revised Standard Version, Phillips, Zürcher Bibel translate in the East. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible also follows this translation, but with a note giving the alternative possibility. In favor of the meaning “at its rising” are Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (“We have seen his star rise”), Barclay, Translator’s New Testament, Moffatt, New English Bible. Jerusalem Bible also accepts this rendering but gives the alternative translation in a footnote, basing it on the Vulgate. On the basis of the evidence available, it seems that either translation is possible, and Good News Translation has attempted to maintain the best of both worlds by including each of the two elements: “when it came up” and “in the east.” Since either translation is possible, the real question is what would the astrologers themselves most likely have said. It seems more likely that people coming from the east would have said something like “in our own land” in place of “in the east.” If this is the case, then it is quite possible that this is a technical term referring to the beginning of the phenomenon observed by the astrologers. Following these interpretations, then, translators can say “his star in our country (in the direction of the east)” or “his star as it came from the east.”

The same term for East should be used as in verse 1.

The word translated worship is used thirteen times in Matthew as compared with two times in Mark and three in Luke. In the context it may mean either divine worship or homage paid to a king; however, in the final analysis it is difficult to draw a sharp line between these two meanings. Many languages use “pray to” for worship, which would not really be best here. “Pay homage to,” “pay our respects to,” or “honor because he is king” is better.

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 2:2

2:2a

asking: The word asking introduces the question that the wise men asked. The Greek text does not state whom the wise men asked. They probably asked people whom they met after they entered the city.

In some languages, it may be more natural to state who was asked. If that is true in your language, you should do so in a general way. For example:

asked ⌊the people⌋ ⌊of the city⌋
-or-
asked ⌊people whom they met in town⌋

Where is the One who has been born King of the Jews?: There are two ways to interpret this question:

(1) It refers to the baby who was King of the Jews when he was born. For example:

Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? (New International Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004), New American Standard Bible, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, King James Version, English Standard Version)

(2) It refers to the baby who will become King of the Jews sometime after his birth. For example:

Where is the one who was born to be the king of the Jews? (God’s Word)

(Good News Translation, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

the baby who has been born, and who is the ruler of the Jews
-or-
the newborn king of the Jews (New Living Translation (2004))

the Jews: The word Jews here refers to the people of one particular ethnic group. They are also called the people/children of Israel. The word Jew comes from the name of their ancestor Judah, the great-grandson of Abraham.

If you do not have a word in your language for Jews, you could form a word based on the Hebrew name “Yehuda” (Judah). You could also borrow the term from a major language translation used in your area. Use the form or phrase your language naturally uses for names of tribes called after a common ancestor. For example:

Yahudi (Arabic)

2:2b

The Greek of 2:2b begins with a word that is often translated as “for.” It indicates that 2:2b–c is the reason for the question in 2:2a. Some English versions such as the Berean Standard Bible do not translate this Greek word.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

⌊We
(excl.) ask this⌋ because
-or-
Our(excl.) reason ⌊for asking this is⌋

His star: In the way that the wise men studied the stars, one particular star somehow indicated the birth of the king of the Jews. In that way, this star was His star.

If it is not natural in your language to use the possessive pronoun His with the word star, you may want to include some implied information. For example:

the star of his ⌊birth⌋
-or-
the star ⌊that announces⌋ him

in the east: There are two ways to interpret the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as in the east:

(1) It refers to the star rising in the sky. For example:

his star when it rose (NET Bible)

(New International Version (2011), New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, NET Bible, Revised English Bible)

(2) It refers to the location of the star or the location of the wise men being in the east. For example:

his star in the East (Revised Standard Version)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, King James Version, New Century Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

his star rising (God’s Word)
-or-
as it rose (New Jerusalem Bible)

2:2c

worship Him: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as worship literally means “prostrate before.” It involves kneeling and putting one’s face to the ground. This is done before God and kings to show great honor and submission.

Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

kneel before him ⌊to honor him⌋

-or-

bow down to honor/adore him ⌊as king⌋

© 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.