pray / prayer

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “pray” (or “prayer”) in English is often translated as “talking with God” (Central Pame, Tzeltal, Chol, Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Shipibo-Conibo, Kaqchikel, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Copainalá Zoque, Central Tarahumara).

Other solutions include:

  • “to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
  • “to cause God to know” (Huichol)
  • “to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
  • San Blas Kuna: “call to one’s Father” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):

    What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?

    “The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.

    When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’

    “A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.

    “The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?

    “I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):

  • For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
  • For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
  • For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (Psalm 32:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 32:6:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Therefore let every faithful pray to You
    when you are found;
    indeed when the strong waters rise,
    they will not find him,” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “So as long as there is still time,
    those who trust You must pray to You.
    And even if a flood of suffering comes,
    it will not be able to harm them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “Therefore all the godly-(ones) should pray to you (sing.) in times of difficulty/trouble,
    so-that when difficulty comes that (are) like a flood, nothing/(no harm) will-happen to them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Eastern Bru:
    “Therefore, people who believe in you, they must pray to you when troubles come. Surely flood waters come, but they will not inundate them.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “Therefore, let all holy people to pray to you
    while you still would be found,
    then really when strong flood start,
    it will not carry them.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Basi kila mtu ambaye anakucha, aombe kwako,
    kwa sababu unapatikana.
    Kweli katika wakati wa mafuriko,
    maji hayatakuja kufika ambapo yupo.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Therefore, the people who are godly should pray to you
    when they realize that they have sinned/ have difficulties.
    If they pray to you, difficulties will not overwhelm them like a great flood.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or 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 Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“is/be present”)

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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 rare (られ) 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, o-rare-ru (おられる) or “is/be present” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Psalm 32:6

In verses 6-7 the psalmist instructs his fellow worshipers. For godly see comments on 4.3. The expression who is godly may require recasting as in the manner of Good News Translation; for example, “those who worship you,” “people who follow you,” or “people who belong to you.”

At a time of distress translates a conjectural Hebrew text; the Masoretic text is “in a time of finding only,” which New Jerusalem Bible translates “upon discovering [his sin]”; in the margin, “In a time when You may be found,” which is how Kirkpatrick, Weiser, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New International Version understand it.6 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project is less helpful than usual (“C” decision). It states that the Masoretic text may be interpreted in two ways: (1) “at the time he finds [it] (that is, his sin); only…”; (2) “for the time [when] he finds the leanness (that is, suffers from famine)”; in this interpretation the Masoretic text punctuation is not maintained. Some connect the word translated “only” to the following words and translate “surely” (King James Version, American Standard Version, The Holy Scriptures by Jewish Publication Society [Jewish Publication Version]). Toombs takes the Masoretic text to mean “at the appropriate times,” which is what the Septuagint and Vulgate have (so Bible en français courant). But many prefer to change the Masoretic text “finding only” to “trouble” (Briggs, Oesterley, Anderson, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). The Good News Translation rendering “in times of need” may have to be recast in some languages to say, for example, “when they have difficulties” or “when they are in trouble.” It seems best to follow the text translated by the majority.

It should be noted that Revised Standard Version connects at a time of distress with what follows, while Good News Translation‘s “in times of need” is connected with what precedes. The Good News Translation order seems to represent the Masoretic text lines better than does Revised Standard Version.

The troubles that threaten are likened to the rush of great waters, that is, a devastating flood (see also comments on 18.16). Revised Standard Version translates quite literally, in the rush of great waters, but it is quite certain that this is a poetic figure of speech for dangers and troubles. See Bible en français courant “If danger threatens to submerge them….” In some languages it is not natural to speak of “a flood of troubles” as in Good News Translation. This expression can sometimes be recast to say “many troubles like the waters of a flood.”

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 .