addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed.

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 Translator 2002, 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.”

In Dutch, Afrikaans, Gronings, and Western Frisian translations, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also formal pronoun: disciples addressing Jesus, female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

complete verse (Psalm 139:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 139:15:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “My making were not hidden in your sight
    when I was being made in a secret place,
    when I was being molded skillfully in the womb of my mother.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “When I was developing in the darkness
    of my mother’s womb,
    and as my bones were developing bit by bit,
    even as the time was passing
    You knew that I was there.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “You (sing.) see my bones when I was-formed secretly inside the belly of my mother.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “There is nothing hidden from you,
    when I was made in hiding place in the stomach.
    When I was made in the stomach of my mother,” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Wakati imeumbwa mifupa yangu, haikujificha kwako,
    wakati naumbwa kwa siri,
    wakati umeniunganisha kwa ustadi tumboni mwa mama yangu.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “When my body was being formed,
    while it was being put together where no one else could see it,
    you saw it!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 139:15

This verse in Hebrew is fairly clear: “my skeleton was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately arranged in the depths of the earth.” Most commentators agree that the depths of the earth is a figure for the mother’s womb. Dahood, however, takes it to mean Sheol, and Toombs states that “the ancient world believed that the children were formed in mother earth before they entered the womb.” Anderson and McCullough support the view that this may be the thought here. Most translations are quite literal, “the depths of the earth” (New American Bible, Oxford Revised Standard Version, and Oxford New English Bible have a footnote indicating that the mother’s womb is meant); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “the womb of the earth”; Good News Translation has “womb.”

Good News Translation has rearranged the material in this verse for greater ease of understanding. “Carefully put together” (Revised Standard Version intricately wrought) translates a verb that is used only eight other times, in Exodus, of the decorated embroidery of the various items in the Tent of the LORD’s Presence.

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 .