Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 104:27:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“All these look to You
that you give them their food in the right time.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Thinking that You give them food to eat at just the right time,
all of them are looking for Your way.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“All living creatures trust in you (sing.) for their food in the times they need (it).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“All of them are searching for you,
so that you give them their food at the time that they need.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Vyote vinakutazama mwenyewe,
ili uvipatie vyakula wakati vinaumwa na njaa.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“All of those creatures depend on you to give them the food that they need.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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 Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.
All living creatures depend on Yahweh for their food (verses 27-28) and their continued existence (verses 29-30). For passages similar to verses 27-28, see 145.15-16; 147.9. In due season in verse 27b means “at the right time,” “at the proper time” (New English Bible, New International Version), “when they need it” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible). In verse 28a Good News Translation “eat” translates the verb which means to “gather, pick up”; and in verse 28b “you provide food” translates “you open your hand” (see Revised Standard Version). In simple and graphic language the psalmist portrays all living creatures looking to God for their food and God giving it to them. The translation should do its best to represent faithfully this poetic language.
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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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 (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
In these verses, the verb that is translated as “give” in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-atae (お与え), combining “to give” (atae) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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