Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 104:19:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“The moon differentiates seasons
and the sun knows its time of entering.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“You created the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows the time to set.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“You (sing.) created the moon as a mark of the season;
and the sun you (sing.) cause-to-go-down at the right hour.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“He made the moon to show time of the rain and of when the land dries up,
and the sun knows the time of going down.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Ulifanya mwezi kuonyesha nyakati,
jua linajua muda wake wa kuzama.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Yahweh, you made the moon to indicate the times for our festivals,
and you made the sun that knows when to go down.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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, tsuku-rare-ru (造られる) or “create” is used.
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.”
Time is also part of Yahweh’s creation and is a provision for the needs of all living beings. The moon marked the time of the festivals (see Gen 1.14); the Hebrew word for seasons in verse 19a does not mean precisely what we call the four seasons of the year. The Hebrews followed a lunar calendar, the beginning of each month being determined by the new moon; so Good News Translation translates “months”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “the festivals”; Bible en français courant “the dates”; New English Bible “to measure the year”; and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “to measure time.” The Hebrew of verse 19a is “He made” (see Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem); many translations (see Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) have “You made,” without a textual note. New American Bible, however, reads the participle “making” (only a change of vowels in the Hebrew text) and provides a note. New International Version, quite alone, has “the moon” as the subject: “The moon marks off the seasons.” Verse 19b refers to the day, which began at sunset. If the translator follows Good News Translation, it may be necessary in some languages to say, for example, “You created the moon to show when each month begins.” In some languages the personification of the sun in the sun knows … may have to be recast to say, for example, “the sun sets when it should” or “the sun sets at the right time.”
Darkness and night (verse 20) were thought of as having real existence, and not simply as the absence of light. They also are part of God’s beneficent creation, a time when the wild animals leave their dens and roam about. Verse 21 speaks specifically of the young lions as they hunt, seeking their food from God, that is, “the food that God provides” for them. All of the natural order depends on God’s sustenance, care, and provision.
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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