Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 105:32:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“He turned their rain to be hailstones,
and lightning in their whole land;” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“He turned the rain that comes from the sky into hail,
and He caused lightning to strike everywhere in their land.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“Instead-of rain, ice and lightning (were) what he sent to their land.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“He changed their rainfall to be hailstones,
and the thunder and lightening flashed all over the land of Egypt.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Akawatumia mvua ya mawe,
radi ikamulika nchi yao yote.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Instead of sending rain, Yahweh sent terrible hail,
and lightning flashed throughout the land.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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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 are (され) 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, kudas-are-ru (下される) or “cast down” is used.
These verses report eight of the plagues, as follows:
Verse 28: the ninth plague, darkness (Exo 10.21-23). In verse 28b the Hebrew text is “and they did not rebel against his word.” Briggs says this refers to the Israelites, and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says it refers to Moses and Aaron. Weiser, Zürcher Bibel, and others change the Hebrew loʾ maru “they did not rebel” to loʾ shamru “they did not obey.” The ancient versions omit the negative adverb, and this text (they rebelled) is preferred by An American Translation, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy. New Jerusalem Bible translates the Masoretic text by “did they not defy His word?” with a marginal note “Meaning of Hebrew uncertain.” This rendering (similarly New International Version) is none too convincing. Bible en français courant takes the third person plural “they did not oppose” in an impersonal sense, “and no one was opposed to his command.”
Verse 29: the first plague, waters into blood (Exo 7.17-21; Psa 78.44).
Verse 30: the second plague, frogs (Exo 8.1-7; Psa 78.45b). In verse 30b the Hebrew is “in the rooms of their kings” (see Revised Standard Version, An American Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible), which New English Bible renders “even their princes’ inner chambers,” and New International Version “the bedrooms of their rulers.” New Jerusalem Bible and Bible en français courant have “royal apartments”; Good News Translation “the palace”; New Jerusalem Bible “the rooms of their king.” It seems best to follow Good News Translation here.
Verse 31: line a the fourth plague, flies (Exo 8.20-24; Psa 78.45a), and line b the third plague, gnats (Exo 8.16-19). There is a difference of opinion over the exact identification of the latter; New Jerusalem Bible has “lice,” New English Bible “maggots,” and New Jerusalem Bible “mosquitoes.”
Verses 32-33: the seventh plague, hail and lightning (Exo 9.18-26; Psa 78.47). Lightning translates what is literally “fire of flames” (see similar phrase in 104.4b), which Weiser and New Jerusalem Bible translate “flaming fire” (as though it were a firestorm); Bible en français courant has “and lightning, that spread fire throughout the land.” The narrative in Exodus 9.23-24 includes thunder and lightning with the hail. Verse 33 describes the ruinous effects of the hail and lightning as Yahweh’s act: He smote … and shattered.
Verses 34-35: the eighth plague, locusts (Exo 10.1-20; Psa 78.46). It is most unlikely that the two different words used in verse 34 refer to two different insects; this is poetic parallelism. New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New International Version, and Dahood have “locusts” and “grasshoppers.” In verse 35b the fruit of their ground means their “crops”; New Jerusalem Bible translates “all the produce of the soil.”
Verse 36: the tenth plague, the death of the first-born sons of all the Egyptian families (Exo 11.1–12.30; Psa 78.49-51). This verse employs much of the language used in 78.51 (which see). In verse 36a the Masoretic text has in their land (see Revised Standard Version); many Hebrew manuscripts have “in Egypt” (which Good News Translation prefers).28-36 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (“C” decision) prefers the Masoretic text.
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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