The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “love” in English is typically translated in Hakka Chinese as thung-siak / 痛惜 or “pain-love” when it refers to God’s love.
The same term is used for a variety of Hebrew terms that cover a range of English translations that refer to God as the agent, including “love,” “compassion,” and “mercy.”
Paul McLean explains: “[Thung-siak / 痛惜] has been used for many years in a popular Hakka-Christian mountain song based on John 3:16. The translation team decided that for this and other reasons it would be a good rendering here. It helps point to the fact that God’s ‘love’ is a compassionate (cum passio, with suffering) love.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 102:14:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“For her stones are loved to your servants;
just its dust makes them to feel sad.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Your servants love each stone of Zion.
And they have pity on every speck of dust.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“For this city, even-though (it is) already broken-down, your people who (are) your (sing.) servants still love and take-an-interest-in-the-welfare-(of the city).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“Your servants love its stones,
when they see that Zion has been destroyed,
they cry because of her.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Watumishi wako wanaupenda mji,
hata kama umebomolewa.
Wanauonea huruma,
hata kama umeharibika kabisa.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Even though the city has been destroyed/our enemies have destroyed our city,
we who serve you still love the stones that were formerly in the city walls;
because now there is rubble everywhere, we, your people, are very sad when we see it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 Translator2002, 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 the hymn of praise (verses 12-22) the psalmist proclaims Yahweh’s power as king, a fact never to be forgotten. In verse 12a Good News Translation “are king” translates the verb “to sit”; as in 9.7 (which see), the idea may be “to remain, abide,” and that is how New American Bible translates it here. But it is better to understand it to mean “sit (on your throne as king),” that is, to be enthroned (Revised Standard Version).
In verse 12b name translates the Hebrew “memorial, remembrance,” as in 97.12 (see also 30.4); New English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible have here “fame.” Instead of the Masoretic text “your memorial,” some Hebrew manuscripts have “your throne” (as in Lam 5.19). The statement “your memorial (or, fame) (is) to generation and generation” means “your fame will last forever.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “all generations will speak of you” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy is like Good News Translation: “your name will always be remembered.” All generations, as used in the Good News Translation sense, may be rendered “all people not yet born” or “everyone still to be born.”
The psalmist’s thoughts now turn to Jerusalem (Zion); she is destroyed (verse 14a) and in ruins (verse 14b), but the Israelites (thy servants) love her and have pity on her. In verse 13b-c time and appointed time are synonymous; the situation seems to be the Babylonian exile, and the expectation is that God will take the exiles back home. The words her stones and her dust indicate that Jerusalem has been destroyed, and so the psalmist affirms that now is the right time for Yahweh to act, for him to restore Jerusalem (see verse 16a). For arise, used of God, see 3.7; 7.6. For idiomatic translation suggestions concerning have pity, see 72.13.
Favor her in the expression it is the time to favor her means “to comfort, be kind, be merciful, to treat tenderly,” and in some languages it may be expressed, for example, “to cause her to be happy,” “to make her feel good,” or idiomatically sometimes, “to give her a cool heart.”
The translator will note how Good News Translation has restructured verse 14 by comparing it with Revised Standard Version. Stones and dust have been made into two concessive clauses related to “servants love” and “they have pity.” Some such restructuring as this is necessary if the reader is not to think of literal stones and dust.
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 .
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