Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 104:5:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“He established the earth on its foundations;
it cannot be moved.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“You placed the earth on its foundations
so that it will never be shaken.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“You (sing.) set the earth on its foundation,
and this will- not -be-shaken forever/[lit. until whenever].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“He made the earth to be strong in its place,
no one will shake it.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Umeiweka nchi katika msingi wake,
ili isitikisike kamwe.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“You placed the world firmly on its foundation so that it can never be moved/shaken.” (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.”
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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, sue-rare-ru (据えられる) or “set/lie” is used.
(See illustration jmp Ancient Hebrew Concept of the Universe|fig:Universe_Image0.jpgjmp*.)
In this strophe (verses 5-9) the psalmist describes the creation of the earth in terms of the defeat and control of the watery chaos (see Gen 1.2) which prevailed before creation (see 74.13-15; 89.9-10).
Yahweh placed the earth solidly on its foundations (see 24.2; 102.25a); this reflects the idea that the earth was a flat disk that rested on pillars under the ground, which reached down into the underworld. (Note the illustration on page 878.) In some languages it will be necessary to shift from the noun foundations to a clause; for example, “You have firmly built the earth” or “You … founded the earth.”
Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, and others (New Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Dahood) take the Hebrew text of verse 6 to mean that Yahweh spread the ocean (the primeval deep) over the earth as part of the creative process. But this seems strange, since it implies that the surface of the earth lay submerged under the primeval waters, which would have to refer back to the condition of the earth before creation; or else it would have to refer to the Flood, which seems most unlikely (see Kirkpatrick). It seems preferable, with Weiser, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, to make a slight change in the Masoretic text (from kisito “you covered it” to kisatah “it covered”), and to understand the text to refer to the condition of the earth before creation, and then to connect verse 6 with verse 7, which tells what happened when the LORD’s creative word was uttered.5-6 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project does not consider this possibility. This interpretation would lead Good News Translation to be:
• 6 The ocean was lying over the earth like a robe,
and the water covered the mountains;
7 but when you rebuked the waters, they fled….
If the translator follows Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation, it may be necessary to say, for example, “You put the ocean over the earth as a person puts on clothing” or “You laid the ocean over the earth, covering it as with a cloth.” The second line is understood as consequence, “and water covered the mountains,” or “so that the water covered the mountain,” or “and the mountains were beneath the water.” If the second interpretation is followed, it may be necessary to make the time reference explicit; for example, “When you began to create, the ocean was lying over the earth…” or “Before you created the world, the ocean covered….”
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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