“People of high status would ride horses or elephants when they travel. Joseph and Mary are not rich so they walk to escape danger. They must travel through wild countryside where no one is around to help them.”
There are three different levels of speech in Burmese: common language, religious language (addressing and honoring monks, etc.), and royal language (which is not in active use anymore). Earliest Bible translations used exclusively royal and religious language (in the way Jesus is addressed by others and in the way Jesus is referred to via pronouns), which results in Jesus being divine and not human. Later editions try to make distinctions.
In the Common Language Version (publ. 2005) the human face of Jesus appears in the narrative of the angel’s message to Joseph and what Joseph did in response (Matthew 1:21-25). The angel told Joseph that Mary was going to give birth to a son, not a prince.
Likewise in Luke 2:6-7 the story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is told simply using the Common language. Again in the description of the shepherds’ visit to the baby Jesus (Mark 1:21-25), in the story of Jesus’ circumcision (Luke 2:6-2:7), and in the narrative of the child Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem (Luke 2:46-51), the human face of Jesus comes to the forefront.
On the other hand, the child Jesus is clearly depicted as a royal or a divine child in the story of the wise men (Matthew 2:9-12), the story of the flight to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-14), and the return to Nazareth (Matthew 2:20-21).
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 2:20:
Uma: “The angel said: ‘The person who wanted to kill that Child is dead. So, get up, take that Child with his mother, return to your village in the land of the Israel people.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Get up, take the child and Mariyam, his mother and go back to the land of Isra’il, because the ones who wanted to kill the child have died.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘Get up, Joseph, and take the child and his mother and go home to the land of Israel, because the one who would like to kill the child is dead.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “and he said, ‘Get up to escort the baby and his mother to return to your country Israel, because the one who was saying he would kill the baby has already died.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “He said to him again, ‘You (pl.) get up. You (sing.) take those two, child and mother, and you (pl.) go home again to Israel, because that one who wanted to kill this child is now dead.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “‘Now take the boy with his mother and go to the land of Israel. Because Herod has now died, that one who wanted to kill the boy,’ he said.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Mary” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with arms folded over chest which is the typical pose of Mary in statues and artwork. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )
In American Sign Language it is translated with a sign for the letter M and the sign for “virgin,” which could also be interpreted as “head covering,” referring to the way that Mary is usually portrayed in art works. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Mary” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
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 ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one 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 in the following way: “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. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both 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. ).
The command to return to Palestine parallels exactly the command to leave in verse 13.
Rise, take translates a participle followed by an imperative. However, the structure is the equivalent of two imperatives, and almost all translations render in it this way.
For suggestions on translating Rise, take the child and his mother, see comments on verse 13. Other suggestions are “Get up and go with the child and his mother to the land of Israel” or “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go with them to the land of Israel.”
Land of Israel is used here and in verse 21, but nowhere else in the New Testament. Translators in some languages will not be able to use land but will have to make a choice between “country” or “region.” Probably the former would be better.
Earlier Matthew mentions only the king as the one who is seeking the child (verse 13). But now he very strikingly introduces a plural structure: those who sought the child’s life. However, the reference here would be to Herod and his advisors, not to the soldiers whom Herod would have sent, as noted in verse 13.
Those will have to be “those people” in many languages.
Sought the child’s life may be “who wanted to kill the child” or “who were trying to kill the child.”
For again indicates a causal relationship, and this may be handled in different ways. A simple “for” or “because” as in Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation is often acceptable. Other languages will use a sentence such as “I tell you this because” or “Do this because.” Others will start the verse with the cause: “The people who were trying to kill the child are dead. Therefore, get up and take the child and his mother to the land of Israel.”
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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