Neh 9:30 – TIPs

patience / patient

The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “patient” or “patience” are translated in a variety of ways.

Eugene Nida (1952, p. 130) gives some examples:

“Peace is the quality of the soul; patience is the behavior of the soul. The Aymara of Bolivia have described patience well by the phrase ‘a waiting heart.’

“The Ngäbere of Panama describe patience in more vivid terms. They say that it is ‘chasing down your temper.’ The impatient person lets his temper run away with him. Patience requires one to “chase down his temper” and get it under control [see also Mairasi down below].

“The Yucateco describe patience as ‘strength not to fall.’ This seems to include almost more than patience, but it is important to note that this Yucateco translation recognizes that impatience means ‘falling.’ For some of us, who tend to take a certain secret pride in our impatience—describing it as energetic drive—it might be well to recognize that impatience is failure, while patience is strength.

“The San Blas Kuna in Panama use a rather strange phrase to depict patience. They say ‘not caring what happens.’ But this is not meant as condoning foolhardy indifference to life and danger. It reflects a kind of reckless confidence in God, a confidence not bred of desperation but of utter reliance. The patient person is not concerned about what happens; he is willing to wait in confidence.”

In Mairasi, the phrase that is employed is “stop (our) anger” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Suki “slow careful thinking way” is used (source L. and E. Twyman in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 91ff. )

In Kwang an expression is used that directly translates as “carry one’s head” (source: Mark Vanderkooi right here ), and in Q’anjob’al it is translated with the phrase “large stomach” (source: Newberry and Kittie Cox in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ).

In Akan, it is typically translated as abodwokyɛre, lit. “chest cool longer.” (Source: Kofi Agyekum in International Journal of Language and Communication 2015, p. 35ff. )

complete verse (Nehemiah 9:30)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nehemiah 9:30:

Kupsabiny: “You were patient with/endured them for many years out of your love. You sent your Spirit who would warn them through your prophets, concerning their sins. Though it was like that, they never listened! There and then you allowed the people of other nations to defeat them.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “For many years you (sing.) bear with them, and your (sing.) Spirit warned them through your (sing.) prophets. But they did- not -pay-any-attention, so you (sing.) handed- them -over to the people around them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “How-many-years-and-years you (sing.) were-enduring/being-patient to advise them by-means-of the prophets through-whom-you (sing.)-spoke, but they turned-a-deaf-ear (lit. deafed-it). Therefore you (sing.) permitted that other nations rule-over them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
English: “You were patient with them for many years. You warned them trough the messages your Spirit gave to the prophets. But they did not heed/pay attention to those messages. So again you allowed the armies of other nations to defeat them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

prophet

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Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic 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):

San Blas Kuna: “one who speaks the voice of God”
Central Pame and Vai: “interpreter for God”
Kaqchikel, Navajo (Dinė), Yaka: “one who speaks for God”
Northern Grebo: “God’s town crier” (see more about this below)
Sapo: “God’s sent-word person”
Shipibo-Conibo, Ngäbere: “one who speaks God’s word”
Copainalá Zoque: “one who speaks-opens” (a compound meaning “one who discloses or reveals”)
Sierra Totonac: “one who causes them to know” (in the sense of “revealer”)
Batak Toba: “foreteller” (this and all the above acc. to Nida 1961, p. 7)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “one who is inspired of God” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Alekano: “the true man who descended from heaven” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
Aguaruna: “teller of God’s word” (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
Ekari: “person who speaks under divine impulse”
Mandarin Chinese: 先知 xiānzhī — “one who foreknows” (or the 1946/1970 translation by Lü Zhenzhong: 神言人 shényánrén — “divine-word-man”)
Uab Meto: “holy spokesman” (source for this and two above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Kouya: Lagɔɔ gbʋgbanyɔ — “the one who seeks God’s affairs” (source: Saunders, p. 269)
Kafa: “decide for God only” (source: Loren Bliese)
Martu Wangka: “sit true to God’s talk” (source: Carl Gross)
Eastern Highland Otomi: “word passer” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
Obolo: ebi nriran: “one with power of divine revelation” (source: Enene Enene)
Mairasi: nonondoai nyan: “message proclaimer” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Highland Totonac: “speaker on God’s behalf”
Central Tarahumara: “God’s preacher” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Coatlán Mixe: “God’s word-thrower”
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)

In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)

About the translation into Northern Grebo:

“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 American Sign Language it is a person who sees into the future:

“Prophet” in American Sign Language (source )

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)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: How to Recognize a Biblical Prophet .

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("admonish")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) 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, imashime-rare-ru (戒められる) or “admonish” is used.

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

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("hand over")

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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, watas-are-ru (渡される) or “hand over” is used.

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

addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or modern 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 the most recent Manchu translation of 1835 (a revision of an earlier edition from 1822), God is never addressed with a pronoun but with “father” (ama /ᠠᠮᠠ) instead. Chengcheng Liu (in this post on the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology blog ) explains: “In Manchu tradition, as in Chinese etiquette, second-person pronouns could be considered disrespectful when speaking to superiors or spiritual beings. Manchu Shamanist prayers avoided si [‘you’] and sini [‘your’] for this very reason. To use them for God would be, in Lipovzoff’s [one of the two translators] words, ‘the most uncouth and indecent way to speak to the Almighty — as if He were a servant or slave.’ There was also a grammatical problem. In Manchu, si and sini could refer to both singular and plural subjects. For a faith that insisted on the singularity of God, this was potentially confusing. By contrast, repeating ama removed any ambiguity.”

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

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 9:30

Many years thou didst bear with them, and didst warn them by thy Spirit through thy prophets: Many years refers to the period of time when kings were ruling in Israel. The Good News Translation rendering “Year after year” makes explicit that God’s patience was continuous and that his warnings were repeated again and again. During that time the prophets were led by God’s Spirit to warn the people (see Zech 7.12).

Bear with means “to be patient with” (so Contemporary English Version) or “to put up with” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

For thy Spirit, see the comments on verse 20 above. Good News Translation avoids translating Spirit (ruach in Hebrew) by using the verb “inspired,” which means that God communicated the message of warning to his prophets for them to give it to the Israelites. It is preferable, however, to retain an explicit mention of God’s Spirit as most translations do.

For thy prophets, see Ezra 5.1. In Hebrew through thy prophets is literally “by the hand of your prophets,” which Traduction œcuménique de la Bible translates as “by the agency of your prophets” (also Nouvelle Bible Segond). Translators must make it clear that God’s warning was given by his Spirit to his prophets for the people.

They would not give ear: The Hebrew verb here may be translated “they did not give heed” or “they did not pay attention” (similarly New International Version). Good News Translation uses the contemporary English expression, “were deaf,” which means that they did not listen to the warnings.

Thou didst give them into the hand of: See verse 27 above.

The peoples of the lands here refers to the Assyrians and Babylonians who took the people of Israel into exile. However, the translator should not refer explicitly to these peoples. Rather, translators should say “other nations” (Good News Translation), “people of foreign countries” (Nouvelle Bible Segond), or “people of other countries” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

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 .

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Verse: Nehemiah 9:30