San Mateo del Mar Huave: “honor (Father God)” (source for this and three above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Dan a figurative expression for praising God is used: “push God’s horse.” “In the distant past people closely followed the horses ridden by chiefs, so ‘pushing’ them.” (Source: Don Slager)
The Hebrew that is translated as “Praise the Lord” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with Tamandani Yehova. While in the English translation it’s not discernible whether a single or many people are addressed, the Chichewa translation is in the imperative plural form so it’s addressed to more than one. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 149:9:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“doing what was written against them
This is the glory of all his holy hearted.
Praise Jehovah.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“and may they be given the punishment that was decided on.
In this is the glory of all the righteous ones.
Hallelujah!” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“to punish them according-to what God has-commanded.
This (is) for the praises of all his faithful people.
Praise the LORD!” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“they punish them with the judgement of God,
this is the glory of his holy people.
You (plur.) praise the Lord.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“ili wahukumiwe kama ambavyo yameandikwa,
hiyo ndiyo heshima ya watakatifu wake wote.
Msifuni BWANA!” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“to judge and punish the people of those nations, like God wrote/declared should be done.
It is a privilege/an honor for God’s faithful people to do that!
Praise Yahweh!” (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. ).
In verse 6 high praises translates a word found elsewhere in the Old Testament only at 66.17 (see comments). The instruction to have their “sharp swords” (Good News Translation; literally “sword of mouths,” which probably means two-edged sword [Revised Standard Version and others]) in their hands seems to indicate that this is a war festival, before the people go out to fight the enemy. But it may also be seen as a celebration after the battle, in which the victory is being acclaimed. In languages in which the sword is unfamiliar, it may be replaced by the most common local weapon or by a generic term for weapon.
Verses 7-9 describe the war against Israel’s enemy. Verse 7 consists of two parallel and synonymous lines; for vengeance see 18.47 and 94.1. New Jerusalem Bible has “retribution.” Instead of “defeat” (Good News Translation), something like “to take vengeance on the nations” will better represent the specific meaning of the text. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “they must execute God’s judgment on all peoples.” The word translated chastisement in verse 7b means “correction, rebuke, punishment.” It is probable that the nations and the peoples have here the sense of “the pagans … the heathen” (Jerusalem Bible).
In verse 8b their nobles is parallel to their kings in line a and indicates the military leaders. In some languages the use of “chains” and “chains of iron” will tend to give the impression that the kings were bound with chains that were not made of iron. In some cases this idea is expressed as “to capture their kings and leaders and tie them up.”
In verse 9 chastisement (Good News Translation “to punish”) translates “to do mishpat,” which in this case is God’s judgment. It is not certain whether written refers primarily to messages of doom proclaimed by Israel’s prophets, or to the heavenly books which contained the records of the deeds of all people (see Dan 7.10). In either case, God is the ultimate judge, and the punishment inflicted on Israel’s enemies has been determined by him. New Jerusalem Bible has “executing the doom decreed against them” (likewise New English Bible). In this case the passive “decreed” means “that God decreed.”
In verse 9b glory translates a word meaning “splendor, dignity” (see 8.5). Good News Translation takes it to mean the same here as the synonym used in verse 5b (not the same Hebrew word). Perhaps “This is an honor for God’s people” (see Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy) is meant. Good News Translation “God’s people” translates the plural of chasid (see 4.3).
The psalm ends as it begins: Praise the LORD!
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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