anger

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The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).

  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
  • Mende: “have a cut heart”
  • Mískito: “have a split heart”
  • Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
  • Mossi: “a swollen heart”
  • Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
  • San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
  • Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
  • Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)

In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)

See also God’s anger and angry.

complete verse (Psalm 102:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 102:10:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “because of your great wrath,
    for You have carried me up and thrown me aside.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Because you were angry with me,
    and you have thrown me aside,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “because of your (sing.) great anger against me.
    They also mock me for I (am) like trash that you (sing.) have-picked-up and thrown-away.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “because of your anger,
    you lifted me up, and threw me aside.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “kwa sababu ya hasira na ghadhabu kwako,
    ndio maana umenichukua, umenitupa mbali.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Because you are very angry with me, now I sit in ashes while I am suffering greatly;
    and those ashes fall on the bread/food that I eat,
    and what I drink has my tears mixed with it.
    It is as though you have picked me up and thrown me away!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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.

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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 "rare" construct denoting God (“cast”)

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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, sute-rare-ru (捨てられる) or “cast” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Psalm 102:9 - 102:11

Good News Translation has joined verses 9-10, placing first what is verse 10a in Hebrew; see Revised Standard Version, which follows the order of the Hebrew text. Translators will be well advised to follow the reordering of verses 9-10 as in Good News Translation, providing the cause at the beginning, unless, of course, this order is not natural in the language.

The psalmist attributes his misfortune to Yahweh’s indignation and anger, which (though not here explicitly stated) are regarded as God’s way of punishing him for his sins. The word translated indignation has sometimes the meaning of “curse” (see comment on “indignation” in 69.24a). The psalmist’s only food is ashes, and his tears pour down and mingle with his drink (see similar language in 42.3; 80.5). During times of fasting and mourning, it was the custom either to place ashes on the head (see 2 Sam 13.19) or to sit on ashes (see Job 2.8; Jonah 3.6). Some, like Oesterley, see ashes and tears as a sign of the psalmist’s repentance. In some languages it may be clearer to say, as in Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, “in place of bread, I eat ashes.”

In the most abject language possible, the psalmist states that God has picked him up and thrown him away like a worthless object (verse 10b). The expression taken me up and thrown me away, if translated literally, may in some languages miss the point of being rejected and without help or healing. Accordingly it may be necessary in some languages to employ a simile in translation; for example, “you have picked me up and thrown me away as a person throws away refuse” or “… as people get rid of dirt.”

The psalmist compares himself to an evening shadow of a day that is coming to its end; he is growing weaker, like grass that dries up. In languages in which an evening shadow may not carry the meaning of approaching the end, it will be necessary to use a different figure or to say, for example, “my life will soon finish like the evening shadow disappears with the coming of dark.” Revised Standard Version wither away like grass is a better model than Good News Translation, which contains no verb and leaves the reader to wonder what the nature of the comparison with dry grass may be.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .