Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 135:7:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“He brings out clouds from the ends of the earth,
he sends lightnings together with rain
and he brings out the wind from its place of storage.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“He makes the clouds rise from the corners of the earth,
He brings lightning with the rain,
and brings out wind from his treasury.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“He carries/takes the clouds to-rise-up from the far-away parts of the earth,
and he sends bolts-of-lightning together-with rain.
He brings-out the wind from their hiding-places.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“He makes the clouds to raise up above all the land,
he sends rain and lightening,
and he gives the wind to get out of his storehouses.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Ndiye ambaye analeta mawingu,
kutoka mwisho wa dunia,
anaituma radi pamoja na mvua,
analeta upepo kutoka katika makao yake.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“He is the one who causes clouds to appear from very distant places on the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain,
and he brings the winds from the places where he stores them.” (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, das-are-ru (出される) or “go/let out” is used.
Yahweh’s power as Lord of the universe is praised in these verses. I know: the speaker here is probably a priest. Yahweh is greater than all the heathen gods (verse 5; see comments on 96.5; 97.9b). The psalmist takes it for granted that these gods do exist, but Yahweh is more powerful than all of them.
Yahweh’s power is unlimited (verse 6; see 115.3b). He does what he wishes, that is, he carries out his purposes, he accomplishes what he plans to do, in heaven and on earth. If a distinction is to be made between the seas and all deeps, the latter (the plural of tehom; see comments on 104.6) represents the primeval waters which Yahweh conquered at creation (so commentaries). Most translations make the two parallel. By using the four spacial terms heaven, earth, seas, and deeps, the psalmist is expressing poetically the limitless extent of God’s dominion. The images move from the highest point to the lowest point, passing through the intermediate points of earth and seas. All deeps may be rendered “to the bottom of the seas” or “to the deepest parts of the seas.” In languages unfamiliar with seas, adjustments to lakes or rivers will have to be made, if the images are to be kept.
Yahweh is also Lord of the storms: the storm clouds, the lightnings, and the wind are all under his control (verse 7). The end of the earth and Good News Translation “the ends…” is somewhat idiomatic, meaning from the most distant parts, and must often be translated in that way. Instead of the Masoretic text lightnings, New English Bible reads another word, “rifts” (“he opens rifts for the rain”), but without any justification (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). For the idea of Yahweh’s storehouses where he keeps the wind, see similar language in 33.7. See also Jeremiah 10.13; 51.16, for almost identical 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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