formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 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. )

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Matthew 28:16-20)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Matthew 28:16-20:

After Jesus had been raised from death,
he instructed eleven of his leading followers
              to meet him on a mountain in Galilee.

Jesus appeared to them and said:

              I have been given absolute authority
                     in heaven and on earth.
              Now I am sending you to make followers
                     of people in nations everywhere.
              Baptize them in the name
              of the Father, the Son,
                     and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have taught you.
              Remember, I will always be with you, no matter what.

Father (address for God)

The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )

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. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.”

If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also Lord and my / our Father.

Sung version of Matthew 28

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®).

For more information, see here .

Translation commentary on Matthew 28:19

Go … baptizing … teaching (verse 20) are each participles dependent upon the main verb make disciples. But in such a construction it is not uncommon for the participles themselves to assume the force of an imperative. However, the command to make disciples is the primary command, while the commands to baptize and teach are ways of fulfilling the primary command. Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Luther 1984, together with a number of other modern translations, translate all of the four verb forms as imperatives: “Go … make … disciples … baptize … teach (verse 20)” (Good News Translation). Of the contemporary translations, Revised Standard Version and New International Version are in the minority as they follow the pattern set by King James Version, which renders “baptizing” and “teaching” as participles.

All nations (Good News Translation “all peoples everywhere”) continues the concept of all-inclusiveness which is emphasized throughout verses 18b-20: “All authority … all nations … all that I have commanded … always.”

Make disciples is also used with a causative force in Acts 14.21; the only other occurrences of this verb in the New Testament are in Matthew 13.52 (“has been trained”) and 27.57 (“was a disciple”). The notion of discipleship is integral to the Gospel of Matthew, where the noun “disciple” is used seventy-two times.

To make disciples of all nations has been translated by Barclay as “make the people of all nations my disciples.”

The disciples are to proceed with their work by baptizing the people of all nations. (Notice that in most languages one can baptize people, not nations.) “Baptism” was discussed at 3.1.

That baptism should be in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is stated only here in the New Testament. In fact, a Trinitarian formula is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in 2 Corinthians 13.14 (TEV 13.13), where it forms part of a benediction. Elsewhere in the New Testament baptism is done only “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2.38) and “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8.16).

In the name of means “by the authority of”; most translations retain the literal form, perhaps under the influence of church tradition. In some cases the phrase will have to be used with all three authorities, as in “in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit.”

There will be languages where the Father will have to be “God the Father,” but it would not be normal to render the Son by “Jesus the Son,” if for no other reason than that it is Jesus himself speaking here. “God the Son” is certainly the way most churches understand this phrase, but it should not be added to the translation. (On the other hand “God the Father” will have been used by many throughout the Gospel of Matthew.)

For Holy Spirit, see discussion at 1.18.

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 .