וְהֵ֣ם בְּמַלְכוּתָם֩ וּבְטוּבְךָ֨ הָרָ֜ב אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֣תָּ לָהֶ֗ם וּבְאֶ֨רֶץ הָרְחָבָ֧ה וְהַשְּׁמֵנָ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥תָּ לִפְנֵיהֶ֖ם לֹ֣א עֲבָד֑וּךָ וְֽלֹא־שָׁ֔בוּ מִמַּֽעַלְלֵיהֶ֖ם הָרָעִֽים׃
35Even in their own kingdom, and in the great goodness you bestowed on them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you and did not turn from their wicked works.
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.
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.
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 to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, kudasaru (下さる), a respectful form of kureru (くれる) or “give” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also respectful form of “give” (tamawaru) and give (Japanese honorifics).
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, ok-are-ru (置かれる) or “place” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
In Hebrew the sentence begins by focusing on the people again by using the connective conjunction in an adversative sense plus the independent third person plural masculine pronoun: “But they.” This is followed by a clause that locates them in time and place (in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness … set before them), after which are the main verbs serve and turn that relate to the sentence’s initial pronoun They. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible reflects the Hebrew structure by beginning with an initial pronoun marker as follows: “[As for] them, during their reign…, they did not serve you….” Good News Translation expresses the logical order of events first as not turning from their sin and secondly as not serving God. Translators should restructure according to normal logic and expression in the receptor culture. Good News Translation offers one model, while New Living Translation offers another as follows: “Even while they had their own kingdom, they did not serve you even though you showered your goodness on them. You gave them a large fertile land, but they refused to turn from their wickedness.”
They did not serve thee in their kingdom: The verb serve means “to work for someone” but here the meaning includes obedience to someone and being faithful to that person. In their kingdom refers to the time when Israel was a monarchy with its own kings. Therefore, the verb must not refer only to a single event but to a period of time. In some languages it will be necessary to restate the prepositional phrase in the form of a temporal clause, such as “during the time that they had their own kings to rule over them” (compare Good News Translation).
In thy great goodness: This refers to the “great good” that God did for them, or “great prosperity” in the words of Revised English Bible and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible (see the comment at verse 25 above). Nouvelle version Segond révisée translates “numerous good deeds,” while Good News Translation has “With your blessing.”
In the large and rich land which thou didst set before them: God had given them a land that was both spacious for them to dwell in and whose soil was fertile and produced good crops (see verse 25 above). In some languages the large and rich land may be stated descriptively as “the great harvest-land.” This great land God had set before them; that is, he had offered it to them and thereby given it to them as Good News Translation and others translate.
They did not turn from their wicked works: The meaning here is that during the period of time that has been referred to they did not leave their “evil ways” (BNT) or their “wicked deeds” (Contemporary Chinese Bible). This may be rendered “they did not turn away from doing their evil actions” or “they did not cease to do the bad things that they were doing.”
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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