The Hebrew, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “soul” in English is translated in Chol with a term that refers to the invisible aspects of human beings (source: Robert Bascom), in Yagaria with oune or “shadow, reflection” (source: Renck, p. 81), and in Elhomwe as “heart” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
The Mandarin Chineselínghún (靈魂 / 灵魂), literally “spirit-soul,” is often used for “soul” (along with xīn [心] or “heart”). This is a term that was adopted from Buddhist sources into early Catholic writings and later also by Protestant translators. (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 32, see also Clara Ho-yan Chan in this article )
In Chichewa, moyo means both “soul” and “life.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai translation uses the exclusive pronoun.
“If you say, “Behold, we did not know this””: In this verse the second person verb forms are singular in Hebrew. “If you say” introduces a course of action that the person may consider following (Good News Translation “You may say”). “Behold” (New Revised Standard Version “Look”) calls for attention, in this case to a protest or argument against the command in the previous verse. In modern English the word “but” (New International Version, Revised English Bible) is sufficient to express this element. The protest is presented in direct speech in Hebrew and most English versions, but we may also use indirect speech: “You may say that. . .” (Good News Translation). Revised Standard Version is a literal rendering of the words of protest; but it is not clear what the words refer to. Revised English Bible takes them to mean “I do not know this person,” with the reader being expected to understand “. . . and so it is not my responsibility to do anything for him.” New International Version expresses the words as “But we knew nothing about this,” again suggesting the excuse “. . . and so we could not do anything.” It is much clearer to include what is to be understood in the wording, as, for example, in Good News Translation or in Scott: “See, this is none of my business.” Most languages have expressions or idiomatic ways of saying this.
“Does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?”: This and the next two lines are a series of rhetorical questions pointing out that God will not accept the person’s excuse or lack of kindness. If the meaning will not be clear in the question form in translation, it may be better to restructure the questions as statements; see Good News Translation for a model of how to do this. “He who weighs the heart” is a reference to God, and this should be made clear, as in Good News Translation and some other versions. For the expression “weighs the heart”, which Good News Translation translates “judges your motives,” see 21.2. To “perceive it” means more than just to see, it is to “take note” of it (Scott, Revised English Bible), looking ahead to what he (God) will do about it in the final line.
“Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it”: This line repeats in other words the same thought as in the previous line. “He who keeps watch over your soul” may have the sense of “he who guards your life” (New International Version), but in parallel with “weighs the heart”, it is probably better to take it as “he who watches you” (Revised English Bible, and see also Good News Translation). “Know it” is the common verb for “know” and has the same meaning as “perceive it” in the previous line. Since these two lines are very similar, it is possible to combine them into something like “God who sees what you think will know about it.”
“And will he not requite man according to his works?”: “Will he not requite” is a causative form of the verb “return,” meaning “make it come back.” So the sense is that God will “give back,” “repay” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible) or “pay back” (Contemporary English Version) people for what he sees them doing. “His works” is a noun form derived from the verb “to do”; so “according to his works” means “according to what he has done” (New International Version) or “as your deeds deserve” (New Jerusalem Bible).
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 24:12:
Kupsabiny: “If you say that you did not know these words/things, so does it mean that God does not know how you are? Will he not pay back to every person according to what that person does?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Don’t put it off, saying, "This is not my job." God knows the thoughts of every heart, and He has also been watching you. He knows what is in your heart. He will reward everyone according to what he has done.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “(It is) possible that you (sing.) will-say that you (sing.) do not know about it. But God knows if you (sing.) are-telling the truth or not, for he watches you (sing.) and he knows what is really in your (sing.) mind. He will-pay- you (sing.) -back according to your (sing.) deeds.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Don’t (sing.) say that you (sing.) don’t know, because God is able to see what is in your (sing.) mind. He knows what all people think-about and do and he rewards/recompenses all according to what they do.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
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 tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others 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: “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 Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two 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. ).
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 verbs 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, s-are-ru (される) or “do/make” and minuiteo-rare-ru (見抜いておられる) or “fathoming/piercing” are used.
Also, when the referent is God or a person or persons to be greatly honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-zonji (ご存じ), a combination of “know” (zonji) and the honorific prefix go-.
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