The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 145:7:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“They will celebrate the abundance of your goodness,
and sing joyfully about your righteousness.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“They will celebrate with joy for all Your good works.
People will sing songs of Your righteousness.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“They will tell-(about) the fame of your (sing.) great goodness,
and they will sing about your (sing.) righteousness.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“They will be happy because of your goodness which is very great,
and they will sing about your right matter with happiness.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Watasimulia wema wako mwingi,
wanafurahia ya unyofu wako.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“People will remember and proclaim that you are very good to us,
and they will sing joyfully that you always act justly/fairly.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew text of Psalms 9/10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145 uses acrostics, a literary form in which each verse is started with one of the successive 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. According to Brenda Boerger (in Open Theology 2016, p. 179ff. ) there are three different reasons for acrostics in the Hebrew text: “for ease of memorization,” the representation “of the full breadth and depth of a topic, all the way from aleph to taw (tav),” and the perception of “the acrostic form as aesthetically attractive.” (p. 191)
While most translations mention the existence of an acrostic in a note or a comment, few implement it in their translation. The Natügu translation is one such exception. Boerger (see above) cites a strong tradition in singing the psalms and the fact that Natügu, like Hebrew, also has 22 possible initial letters as motivating factors to maintain the acrostics in that language.
Click or tap here for the complete psalm in Natügu
1 Awi-zvzbo bam mz nzglqpx-krnge nim,
Murde nim Gct rnge x mnclzbo bam.
2 Bilvzx nim mz nzawi-krbo bam.
X sa naglqpx-zvzx nim mz zbq kang kqlu.
3 Clveq nrlc mz zmatq ngrm kx trpnzngr kxrkrlz.
Yawe, myatxlz-esz’ngrn x takitrde nzrglqlzngr nim.
4 Doa nemqng sa nayapwxti-zvzbzlr mz doa nedrng,
Da kcng tqetuting tqmatq tqaletiqng.
5 Eu, x sa na-aoti-zvz-kzx drtwrnge nzwz-krmqng kxmrlzvxing,
X nzetu-esz’ngr-krm mz zmatq.
6 Gct, sa nayapwxtipx leplz da kxnzkctipxng kcng tqwz-ngrn.
X sa napipxx nzmyalz-esz’ngr-krm.
7-8 Ipq-aniq leplz murde yc mz drtwrm nidr.
Murde nivz lrm x nzaodu-krm tqyc tqyc.
Jzsiq leplz mz nztubqngr x sa na-angrlvzlr nim.
Sa nalepxlr nrpa ngr nzmrlz-esz’ngr-krm.
9 Kxetu, mrlztiq leplz amrlx,
X yc zlwz mz drtwrm doa amrlx kcng tqwz-ngrn.
10 Leplz nemqng amrlx sa na-awibzng bam,
X doa amrlx kcng tqwz-ngrn sa naglqlzlr nim.
11 Mz nrlc tulvzo, sa nayapwxtipxlr nzmyalz-esz’ngr-krm,
X nzetukr zmatq ngrm mz nzngini-krm king.
12 Nrpa ngr nzwz-krmqng etu, mz da kxmrlzting kcng tqwz-ngrn mz nzaclve-krm,
Sa nakrlz leplz amrlx.
13 Obqom mz nrlc mz nzaclve-krm kc tqyc tqyc,
X nzngini-krm king tqvzpe tqvzpe.
Pipx-zvzq natq kx na-angidatiq,
X aelwapx-zvzq nivz lrm mz da amrlx kcng tqaleq.
14 Rngiscm zmatq kx okatrle leplz kcng tzkxpung,
X axplrle nabz leplz kcng tqtalvzo.
15 Sa narkabzme dakxnzng mz kxnzlung amrlx,
Mz nzmnc-xgle-krdr nim mz da amrlx.
16 Tekqtrq nzbrtale-krdr mz nzakrlc-krbzme nelzdr,
X drtwrdr esatxpx zpwx.
17 Vz zvz nzale-krm da kx tubq-esz’ngr,
X aelwapx-zvzq nivz lrm mz da amrlx kcng tqaleq.
18 Wxbu-aepztrpzme mz krkcng tzkqlelr nim,
Mz nzbrti-zpwxkr drtwrdr nim.
19 Xlrq nzyrnikr leplz kcng tzamrluelr nim,
X ayzlubzme natqdr mz nzarlapx-krm nidr.
20 Yawe, tu-zvzbzme mz nibr leplz kx nzmrlztilr nim,
A’ odati-atwrnr-ngrn kxdrka’-ngrng.
21 Zbq kalvz sa naglqlzx nim.
X krkcng tzlung tqwz-ngrn, nzangio-krdr nim tqvzpe tqvzpe.
The DanishBibelen på Hverdagsdansk (publ. 1985, rev. 2015 et al.) also translated Psalm 145 into an acrostic. Due to the higher number of Danish letters, It skips C, Q, W, X, Z, and Ø.
Click or tap here for the complete psalm in Danish
1 Altid vil jeg prise dig, Herre,
du er min Konge og Gud for evigt.
2 Bestandig vil jeg synge til din ære,
takke dig hver eneste dag.
3 Der er ingen så mægtig som dig, Herre,
ingen kan fatte din storhed.
4 En generation skal fortælle det videre til den næste,
at dine underfulde gerninger er uden sidestykke.
5 Folk skal fortælle om din herlighed og magt,
og jeg vil altid mindes dine undere.
6 Gang på gang bliver dine gerninger berømmet,
jeg vil fortælle om din storhed igen og igen.
7 Hvor er din godhed dog stor,
din retfærdighed bliver husket med glæde.
8 Ingen er nådig og barmhjertig som dig,
du er tålmodig og utrolig trofast.
9 Jeg ved, at du er god mod alle,
barmhjertig mod alle dine skabninger.
10 Kan mennesker gøre andet end takke dig, Herre?
Dine tjenere vil altid lovprise dig.
11 Lad os altid tale om dit riges herlighed,
fortælle om din vældige magt.
12 Mennesker i hele verden skal høre om din magt,
om dit riges strålende herlighed.
13 Når alt andet forgår, vil dit rige bestå.
Du skal regere i evighed.
Ord fra dig kan man stole på,
dine handlinger viser din nåde imod os.
14 På livets vej kan vi synke i knæ,
men du rejser os op, når vi falder.
15 Retter vi vores blik mod dig i tro,
vil du altid give os det, vi har brug for.
16 Så snart et menneske erkender sit behov,
er du straks parat til at opfylde det.
17 Trofasthed og retfærdighed kendes du på,
dine handlinger er baseret på kærlighed.
18 Uden undtagelse hjælper du alle,
som beder til dig af et oprigtigt hjerte.
19 Vælger mennesker at følge dig,
vil du redde dem, når de råber om hjælp.
20 Ærligt troende oplever din beskyttelse,
men de onde går deres undergang i møde.
21 År efter år vil jeg prise dig, Herre,
måtte alt levende lovsynge dig for evigt.
There are two Dutch translations that maintain the acrostic: Naardense Bijbel (publ. 2004) and the Tot Lof van God by Frans Croese (publ. 2010).
Click or tap here for the complete psalm in the Dutch translations
Naardense Bijbel:
1
Alleluia, ik dank de Ene van ganser harte, ✡
binnen de kring der oprechten,
een samenkomst;
2
groot zijn de daden van de Ene, ✡
doorvorsbaar
voor elk met behagen daarin;
3
en glans en luister straalt van zijn werk, ✡
fleur houdt zijn gerechtigheid
voor altijd;
4
genadig en barmhartig is de Ene, ✡
hij doet zijn wonderen voorgoed gedenken;
5
indachtig is hij voor eeuwig zijn verbond, ✡
ja, wie hem vrezen gaf hij teerkost; de
6
kracht van zijn daden
heeft hij zijn gemeente gemeld; ✡
leende hun
het erfdeel van volkeren;
7
machtig zijn zijn handen in trouw en recht, ✡
nooit onbetrouwbaar zijn
al zijn inzettingen;
8
ondersteund voor altijd en eeuwig, ✡
product
van trouw en oprechtheid;
9
redding, loskoop zond hij zijn gemeente,
sloot voor eeuwig zijn verbond, ✡
te vrezen en heilig is zijn naam!-
10
vreze voor de Ene
is het beginsel van wijsheid,
weg tot goed inzicht
voor wie daarnaar dóen; ✡
zijn lof
blijft staande voor altíjd!
Tot Lof van God translation:
Een lofdicht, op naam van David.
Als de ware Koning, zo wil ik U verhogen, mijn God,
zegenen wil ik Uw naam voor altijd en eeuwig.
2
Bij voortduring wil ik U zegenen, iedere dag weer,
loven wil ik Uw naam voor altijd en eeuwig.
3
Dat omdat Jehovah groots en zeer te loven is,
Zijn grootsheid is onpeilbaar.
4
En daarom prijst men Uw daden van geslacht op geslacht,
verhaalt men van Uw machtige daden.
5
Flonkerend in luister en pracht is Uw majesteit,
details over Uw wonderen verkondig ik graag.
6
Geweldig zijn Uw geduchte daden waarover men spreekt
– van Uw grootse daden wil ik vertellen –
7
herinneringen aan veel van Uw goedheid halen zij op,
over Uw rechtvaardigheid juichen zij.
8
Inderdaad, goedgunstig en barmhartig, dat is Jehovah,
geduldig en groots in loyale goedheid.
9
Jehovah is goed jegens allen,
met daarbij Zijn barmhartigheid, kenmerkend voor al Zijn werken.
10
Komen al Uw werken U werkelijk prijzen, Jehovah,
Uw loyalen zullen U zegenen.
11
Laten zij de heerlijkheid van Uw koninkrijk aanzeggen,
Uw grote macht bespreken.
12
Mogen zij Zijn machtige daden aan de mensen bekendmaken,
en de luister en pracht van Zijn koninkrijk.
13
Niet alleen dat, Uw koninkrijk is een koninkrijk voor alle tijden,
Uw heerschappij is voor alle achtereenvolgende geslachten.
14
Prachtig, Jehovah pakt allen stevig vast die vallen,
allen die gebukt gaan richt Hij weer op.
15
Reikhalzend zien aller ogen daarom naar U uit,
U bent het die hun te rechter tijd hun voedsel verschaft.
16
Stellig, U opent Uw hand
en verzadigt het verlangen van een ieder die leeft.
17
Terecht heet Jehovah ‘rechtvaardig in al Zijn wegen’,
in al Zijn werken is Hij loyaal.
18
Uit dien hoofde is Jehovah nabij allen die Hem aanroepen,
allen die Hem aan blijven roepen in waarachtigheid.
19
Vervullen zal Hij het verlangen van hen die hem vrezen,
Hij luistert naar hun hulpgeschreeuw en zal hen redden.
20
Waken zal Jehovah over een ieder die Hem liefheeft,
waar Hij alle wettelozen weg zal vagen.
21
Zo zal mijn mond Jehovah’s lof spreken.
Alle vlees zal Zijn heilige naam zegenen,
en dat voor altijd en eeuwig!
With thanks to Thamara van Eijzeren
The English Bible translation by Ronald Knox (publ. 1950) maintains almost every Hebrew acrostic (even though Knox’s translation itself is based on the Latin text of the Vulgate rather than the Hebrew). Due to the higher number of letters in the English alphabet, it skips the letter K, X, Y, and Z. (Click or tap here for the complete psalm in Knox’s translation.)
1 And shall I not extol thee, my God, my king; shall I not bless thy name for ever and for evermore?
2 Blessing shall be thine, day after day; for ever and for evermore praised be thy name.
3 Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty, any thought set limits to his greatness?
4 Down the ages the story of thy deeds is told, thy power is ever acclaimed;
5 each magnifies thy unapproachable glory, makes known thy wonders.
6 Fearful are the tales they tell of thy power, proclaiming thy magnificence;
7 grateful their memory of all thy goodness, as they boast of thy just dealings.
8 How gracious the Lord is, how merciful, how patient, how rich in pity!
9 Is he not a loving Lord to his whole creation; does not his mercy reach out to all that he has made?
10 Joining, then, Lord, in thy whole creation’s praise, let thy faithful servants bless thee;
11 let them publish the glory of thy kingdom, and discourse of thy power,
12 making that power known to the race of men, the glory, the splendour of that kingdom!
13 No age shall dawn but shall see thee reigning still; generations pass, and thy rule shall endure. O how true the Lord is to all his promises, how gracious in all his dealings!
14 Prostrate though men may fall, the Lord will lift them up, will revive their crushed spirits.
15 Quietly, Lord, thy creatures raise their eyes to thee, and thou grantest them, in due time, their nourishment,
16 Ready to open thy hand, and fill with thy blessing all that lives.
17 So faithful the Lord is in all he does, so gracious in all his dealings.
18 The Lord draws near to every man that calls upon him, will he but call upon him with a true heart.
19 Utter but the wish, you that fear the Lord, and he will grant it, will hear the cry, and bring aid.
20 Vigilantly the Lord watches over all that love him, marks down the wicked for destruction.
21 While these lips tell of the Lord’s praise, let all that lives bless his holy name, for ever, and for evermore. (Source )
Another English translation that keeps an acrostic for this psalm is the EasyEnglish Bible (publ. 2018), skipping Q, U, X, and Z.
1 Always I will praise you, my God and my king,
and I will say how great you are!
2 Because you are good, I will praise you every day.
Yes, I will always praise your name.
3 Clearly the Lord is great!
He is so great that we cannot understand it.
4 Down from father to son, people will praise you.
They will tell each other about the powerful things that you have done.
5 Everyone will speak about your glory and authority.
I also will think carefully about your great miracles.
6 Famous are the powerful things that you have done.
People will talk about them.
I also will speak about the great things that you do.
7 Good things are what everybody will remember about you.
They will sing about your justice.
8 How very kind the Lord is!
He is very patient and his faithful love continues.
9 It is the Lord who takes care of everybody.
He is kind to everything that he has made.
10 Join together to thank the Lord!
Everything that he has made will praise him.
Your own people will praise you, Lord!
11 King is who you are and your kingdom is great!
People will speak about your royal authority.
12 Let everyone agree that you do great things!
Let them say that you rule with great authority.
13 Many years your kingdom will remain, even for ever.
You will always rule your people and their descendants.
Nothing that the Lord promises is false.
He is kind in everything that he does.
14 Often people fall, but the Lord lifts them up.
He helps everyone who has trouble.
15 People look to you for help.
You give them food when they need it.
16 Ready to help, you open your hand.
You give to every living thing the good things that they want.
17 So the Lord is fair in all that he does.
He always shows how much he loves us.
18 The Lord is ready to help everyone who asks him.
He is near to everyone who prays honestly.
19 Very kindly he gives his own people the things that they need.
He saves them when they call to him for help.
20 Whoever loves the Lord, he keeps safe.
But he destroys wicked people.
21 Yes, I will praise the Lord!
Everyone who lives should praise his holy name for ever!
Another English translation that maintains the acrostic is by Gordon Jackson (The Lincoln Psalter, 1997). (Click or tap here for the complete psalm in Jackson’s translation)
Allworthy God, I honour you as my king,
and as long as I have breath it will praise your name;
Be my days many or few, each one will bless you,
each one be a holy day as I give it to you;
Can anyone overpraise the Lord,
can anyone exaggerate his greatness?
Don’t his miracles simply astonish us,
don’t witnesses find it hard to make others believe in them?
Essentially my theme is one and the same,
your glory that is hidden in private knowledge;
For all that your public displays of saving power
fill men with awe and profitable fear,
Grateful and humble hearts keep their gladness close
and treasure the infinite goodness you graced them with.
He is gracious, they know, he is considerate,
he is patient, he is kind beyond compare;
Isn’t he everyone’s God, and his love
available to all his beloved creatures?
Justly, О Lord, your creatures who know you praise you,
rightly they find in you a blessing each day;
Let them enlarge their language to talk of your glory,
let them tell their own tale,
Making no bones about what they know of you,
you and your Majesty, you and your dearest Mercy;
Not to diminish with anger, not to decline with age,
no, your goodness is faultless, and your mercy is perfect.
Oh how true to his word he is, how reliable;
once he has given a promise then count it fulfilled;
Perhaps you will trip, maybe fall, he will help you up;
perhaps be depressed, he will help you get out of it.
Quail they do not who look to you, Lord, in hope,
and sure enough you stead them in your season,
Ready and bountiful and providential
you give your living creatures what they need.
See if he isn’t just in all his ways,
see if he isn’t true to his every word;
Try him and see, come close as you dare to him,
and if you are straight with him he will show you his love.
Up to your eyes in worry, just ask for his help;
be honest with him, be frank, and he will respect you.
Vicious and oily souls have good cause to fear him,
but those who respect him he will account his own.
Which is why I have good reason to praise the Lord,
and why we should all bless his name for ever and ever.
And lastly, Brenda Boerger (2024) translated this psalm while maintaining the acrostic (click or tap here for the complete psalm in Boerger’s translation).
1 Adonai, King, I adore you,
And HaShem acclaim forever;
2 Bow in worship for all you do,
Blessing ever who you are.
3 Can your craftings be quantified?
Clearly all acclaim must be yours.
Deeds you do leave us mystified;
Deep, delightful are your ways.
4 Each enlightens his descendants,
Expresses your mighty actions.
5 Focusing upon your splendors,
Fuels reflections on your works.
God, it’s you whom I will study —
Greatness, glory eternally,
6 How your works exhibit power.
Holy acts you do each hour.
I proclaim your immensity;
7 Intone anthems without pausing,
Jump for joy, Lord, for you’re causing
Justice to reign with purity.
8 King’s complete in mercies, graces,
Kindly, he does keep his temper.
9 Lord God’s love reaches all races,
Limitlessly, flows forever.
10 Majesty, your works commend you —
Master, we too magnify you.
No one now neglects to serve you,
Numbering blessings — all you do.
11 Openly, they honor your name,
Odes to you, your outstanding reign,
Proclaim praises, hour by hour and
Profess now your splendor, power.
12 Quite so, all learn of your splendor;
Quake because you’re very mighty.
13 Revered Lord, your rule’ s forever.
Redeemer’s word is trustworthy.
14 Sustainer of those who stumble,
Supporter of souls who’re brought low,
15 To you, in faith, those who’re humble,
Turn for food, today, tomorrow.
16 Unfailingly you’re unstinting,
Undergird lives of the living.
17 Verily, you have great virtue.
Vast love’s voiced whate’er you do.
18 Wise one, you watch those who’re pleading,
Witness vows of those believing,
19 Execute prayers of exalters!
Extricate those at your altars!
20 You protect all those who love you,
Yet destroy the wicked ones too.
21 Zestfully let’s praise Creator;
Zealous, praise HaShem forever.
Ho’ o-ho’o-Ho’ osana. Hale-hale-hallelu-Yah.
Ho’ o-ho’ o-Ho’ osana. Hale-hale-hallelu-Yah.
Another published English translation with acrostics is The Psalms Chronologically Arranged by the “Four Friends” (C.T. Arnold, A.W. Potts, F.E. Kitchener, S. Philpotts) of 1870.
Another 19th century translation with maintained acrostics is the German1883 commentary and translation by Franz Delitzsch . Unlike the other translations, he translates the acrostics of this and the other acrostic psalms by following an approximation of the German sound of the 22 letters (alef/א = a; bet/ב = b; gimel/ג = g; dalet/ד = d; he/ה = h; vav/ו = u; zayin/ז = s; chet/ח = h; tet/ט = t; yod/י = i or j; kaf/כ = k; lamed/ל = l; mem/מ = m; nun/נ = n; samech/ס = s; ayin/ע = e; pe/פ = f; tsadi/צ = z; qof/ק = k; resh/ר = r; shin/ש = sch; tav/ת = t).
The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” or “righteousness” (see below for a discussion of the English translation) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)
Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:
Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
(San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “justice” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
“a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Cherokee: “with heart” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 29)
The English translation of righteousness, especially in the New Testament is questioned by Nicholas Wolterstorff (2008, p. 110ff.) (Click or tap here to see the details)
Those who approach the New Testament solely through English translations face a serious linguistic obstacle to apprehending what these writings say about justice. In most English translations, the word “justice” occurs relatively infrequently. It is no surprise, then, that most English-speaking people think the New Testament does not say much about justice; the Bibles they read do not say much about justice. English translations are in this way different from translations into Latin, French, Spanish, German, Dutch — and for all I know, most languages.
The basic issue is well known among translators and commentators. Plato’s Republic, as we all know, is about justice. The Greek noun in Plato’s text that is standardly translated as “justice” is dikaiosunē (δικαιοσύνη); the adjective standardly translated as “just” is dikaios (δίκαιος). This same dik-stem occurs around three hundred times in the New Testament, in a wide variety of grammatical variants.
To the person who comes to English translations of the New Testament fresh from reading and translating classical Greek, it comes as a surprise to discover that though some of those occurrences are translated with grammatical variants on our word “just,” the great bulk of dik-stem words are translated with grammatical variants on our word “right.” The noun, for example, is usually translated as “righteousness,” not as “justice.” In English we have the word “just” and its grammatical variants coming horn the Latin iustitia, and the word “right” and its grammatical variants coining from the Old English recht. Almost all our translators have decided to translate the great bulk of dik-stem words in the New Testament with grammatical variants on the latter — just the opposite of the decision made by most translators of classical Greek.
I will give just two examples of the point. The fourth of the beatitudes of Jesus, as recorded in the fifth chapter of Matthew, reads, in the New Revised Standard Version, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The word translated as “righteousness” is dikaiosunē. And the eighth beatitude, in the same translation, reads “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Greek word translated as “righteousness” is dikaiosunē. Apparently, the translators were not struck by the oddity of someone being persecuted because he is righteous. My own reading of human affairs is that righteous people are either admired or ignored, not persecuted; people who pursue justice are the ones who get in trouble.
It goes almost without saying that the meaning and connotations of “righteousness” are very different in present-day idiomatic English from those of “justice.” “Righteousness” names primarily if not exclusively a certain trait of personal character. (…) The word in present-day idiomatic English carries a negative connotation. In everyday speech one seldom any more describes someone as righteous; if one does, the suggestion is that he is self-righteous. “Justice,” by contrast, refers to an interpersonal situation; justice is present when persons are related to each other in a certain way. There is, indeed, a long tradition of philosophical and theological discussion on the virtue of justice. But that use of the term has almost dropped out of idiomatic English; we do not often speak any more of a person as just. And in any case, the concept of the virtue of justice presupposes the concept of those social relationships that are just.
So when the New Testament writers speak of dikaiosunē, are they speaking of righteousness or of justice? Is Jesus blessing those who hunger and thirst for righteousness or those who hunger and thirst for justice?
A thought that comes to mind is that the word changed meaning between Plato and the New Testament. Had Jesus’ words been uttered in Plato’s time and place, they would have been understood as blessing those who hunger and thirst for the social condition of justice. In Jesus’ time and place, they would have been understood as blessing (hose who hunger and thirst for righteousness — that is, for personal moral rectitude.
Between the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament there came the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. (…) One of the challenges facing the Septuagint translators was how to catch, in the Greek of their day, the combination of mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט) with tsedeq (צֶ֫דֶק). Tsedeq that we find so often in the Old Testament, standardly translated into English as justice and righteousness. The solution they settled on was to translate tsedeq as dikaiosunē, and to use a term whose home use was in legal situations, namely, krisis (κρίσις), to translate mishpat. Mishpat and tsedeq became krisis and dikaiosunē. For the most part, this is also how they translated the Hebrew words even when they were not explicitly paired with each other: mishpat (justice) becomes krisis, tsedeq (righteousness) becomes dikaiosunē. The pattern is not entirely consistent, however; every now and then, when mishpat is not paired off with tsedeq, it is translated with dikaiosunē or some other dik-stem word (e.g., 1 Kings 3:28, Proverbs 17:23, Isaiah 61:8).
I think the conclusion that those of us who are not specialists in Hellenistic Greek should draw from this somewhat bewildering array of data is that, in the linguistic circles of the New Testament writers, dikaiosunē did not refer definitively either to the character trait of righteousness (shorn of its negative connotations) or to the social condition of justice, but was ambiguous as between those two. If dikaiosunē had referred decisively in Hellenistic Greek to righteousness rather than to justice, why would the Septuagint translators sometimes use it to translate mishpat, why would Catholic translators [into the 1980s] usually translate it as “justice,” and why would all English translators sometimes translate it as “justice”? (All earlier Latin-based Catholic translations, the New American Bible and the Jerusalem Bible, both of which appeared in the early 1970s have most occurrences of dik-stem words translated with variants on “just.” In subsequent revisions of the New American Bible, and in the New Jerusalem Bible, these translations have been altered to translations along the lines of righteousness. Other translations that use a form of justice or “doing right / rightness” include the British New English Bible [1970] and Revised English Bible [1989] and some newer translations such as by Hart [2017], Ruden [2021] or McKnight [2023]).
Conversely, if it referred decisively to justice, why would the Septuagint translators usually not use it to translate mishpat, and why would almost all translators sometimes translate it as “righteousness”? Context will have to determine whether, in a given case, it is best translated as “justice” or as “righteousness” — or as something else instead; and if context does not determine, then it would be best, if possible, to preserve the ambiguity and use some such ambiguous expression as “what is right” or “the right thing.”
Let me make one final observation about translation. When one takes in hand a list of all the occurrences of dik-stem words in the Greek New Testament, and then opens up almost any English translation of the New Testament and reads in one sitting all the translations of these words, a certain pattern emerges: unless the notion of legal judgment is so prominent in the context as virtually to force a translation in terms of justice, the translators will prefer to speak of righteousness.
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.”
In verse 6a terrible translates a word meaning “awesome, awe-inspiring” (see comments on “dread deeds” in 65.5; “terrible” in 76.7). In today’s English terrible is a most inappropriate word to qualify God’s acts. In verse 6b one form of the Hebrew text has “your greatness” (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible); another form has “your great deeds” (New English Bible, Bible en français courant, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Dahood). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says either may be adopted.
It should be noted that, in verses 5b, 6b, instead of the first person singular of the Hebrew text, the Septuagint has the third person plural, which Weiser and New American Bible follow. New English Bible and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy follow the Septuagint in verse 6b. In this way the verbs are all plural in verses 4-7, which is more consistent; but the Hebrew text makes sense.
In verse 7a They shall pour forth means to announce, recite (New English Bible), celebrate (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible); see its use in 19.2. In line a, goodness is parallel to righteousness (see 5.8) in line b. Revised Standard Version and others have righteousness or “justice”; Good News Translation (similarly New Jerusalem Bible) has “kindness”; Bible en français courant “faithfulness.” In verse 7a fame translates the word meaning “remembrance” (see “remembrance” in 6.5; “name” in 102.12b).
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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