addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

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.

In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.

Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”

In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.

Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).

In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“throw in”)

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, nagekom-are-ru (投げ込まれる) or “throw in” is used.

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

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 9:11

In this verse the prayer repeats expressions from the song of victory in Exo 15 that Moses and the Israelites sang after crossing of the Red Sea. The concise description with the climax in the form of a comparison is powerful and dramatic.

Thou didst divide the sea before them: God separated the water of the sea into two parts or sections to make a dry path where the Israelites were able to cross from one side to the other side. God caused the water to separate in two in front of them. The concept of dividing water to create a space in between may be difficult to express. It may be helpful to specify that the water of the sea was separated into two sections. Mandinka says “You split the sea before them.” “You traced a road for them in the sea” may be another way of expressing this.

They went through the midst of the sea on dry land: The prayer shows God’s power by drawing attention to an apparent contradiction. How can there be dry land in the midst of the sea? The prayer simply affirms that God caused the water to divide. This left a path of dry ground for the Israelites to walk across on to the other shore. The idea of dry earth at the bottom of the sea may seem to be impossible, which is perhaps why Jerusalem Bible says that the Israelites crossed “dry-shod.” In some languages this may be expressed with an idiom such as “with dry feet.” The Israelites crossed through the divided sea on dry soil without their feet getting wet.

Thou didst cast their pursuers into the depths: In sharp contrast to the deliverance of the Israelites, the Egyptians who were following them met with sudden disaster. The prayer does not explain exactly how the sea was divided and how the Egyptians perished, but it does give credit to God for throwing the Egyptians into deep water where they drowned (so Good News Translation).

As a stone into mighty waters: The fate of the Egyptian soldiers is compared to throwing a stone into “rushing waters” (Jerusalem Bible), “raging waters” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “turbulent waters” (New English Bible; see Exo 15.5, 10). The comparison with the stone may need to be made more explicit as Good News Translation has done by including the idea of sinking and by specifying that it is in a “raging sea.” Both the Hebrew word for waters and the adjective that is translated as mighty may refer to the water of a sea or river.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .