Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 12:3:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“You Jehovah close all the fraudulent lips
and every proud mouth.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“LORD, Cut off all flattering tongues,
and shut all boastful mouths.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“LORD, may-it-be-that you (sing.) cause- the ones-(who) -flatter/insincerely-praise others and the ones-(who)-boast -to-be-silent” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Eastern Bru:
“Oh God! Request that you do away with people speaking flattery, and people who customarily raise themselves up.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Laarim:
“Let the LORD cut off all the mouths which lie,
and tongues who are boasting,” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Ee BWANA, uikate midomo ya udanganyifu,
uzinyamazishe ndimi ambazo zinajisifu,” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Yahweh, we wish that you would cut off their tongues
so that they cannot continue to boast.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
Here, tachikitte (断ち切って) or “cut off” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Good News Translation sacrifices the chiastic pattern of lips–tongue, tongue–lips and produces “tongue–mouths,” “words–say.” The translator should in no case attempt to retain a poetic device, such as chiasmus, at the expense of a clear rendering of the meaning.
With vivid language the psalmist asks Yahweh to stop all lying and boasting. Cut off is not meant literally but means to put a stop to, perhaps by banishment or by death. The term used for “Silence” or cut off depends on the nature of the expression used for “flatter.” In some languages this will be “close the mouths of those who speak flattering words” or “stop those who flatter others.”
All … lips and the tongue stand for people who flatter (same word as in verse 2) and who boast (literally “saying great things”) that with their words they are able to get their way. In some languages it is not possible to speak of a part of the person as representing the whole person, and one must say, for example, “silence people who…” or “stop people who….”
The first line in verse 4 is “we will win with our tongue”; the verb means to prevail, succeed. See New American Bible “We are heroes with our tongues”; New Jerusalem Bible “In our tongue lies our strength”; Bible en français courant “We know what to say in order to succeed.” With our tongue refers to clever talk used to obtain evil ends, and may be expressed “by speaking clever words we get what we want.”
The second statement is our lips are with us, meaning that their words are at their command, to help them get what they want; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “our tongue defends us.”
The third statement, who is our master? is a rhetorical question which in the context means that no one can prevail against them; they can do whatever they want, so powerful are their words. This question may be better represented by a strong affirmation, “No one can tell us what to do” or “We do not have to obey anyone.”
New Jerusalem Bible joins the last two statements: “with lips such as ours, who can be our master?” In some languages it will be advisable to abandon the literal tongue … lips, and to use “words, speech, talking,” or the equivalent, in order to avoid what may appear to be incongruous or slightly ridiculous.
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 .
The following are presentations by the Psalms: Layer by Layer project, run by Scriptura . The first is an overview, the second an introduction into the poetry, and the third an introduction into the exegesis of Psalm 12.
John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)
John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)
“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”
“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’
“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.
“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.
“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”
A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”
The translation of Psalm 12 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):
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