complete verse (Psalm 38:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 38:9:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “All my desires are visible before your sight Lord,
    my sobbing is not hidden from You.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “O LORD, As for what my heart’s desire is You already know it,
    You have also heard my groaning.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “LORD, you (sing.) know all my desires and you (sing.) have-heard my groaning.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Eastern Bru:
    “Oh Lord! You already know what it is I want. And you have already heard my voice groaning.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “LORD, these matters be seen all by you,
    when I groan, I do not hide from you.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Ee Bwana, ambavyo natamani unavijua,
    kuguna kwangu hakujajificha kwako.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Yahweh, you know that I desire to be healed;
    you hear me while I am groaning.” (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.

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

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.

Translation commentary on Psalm 38:9 - 38:10

In verse 9a the usual translation all my longing assumes that it refers to the psalmist’s wish to be healed; elsewhere Revised Standard Version has “desire” (see 10.3 and comments); so the word is translated “desires” by Biblia Dios Habla Hoy (see Bible en français courant), “entreaties” by New Jerusalem Bible; Dahood and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible have “sighing”; New English Bible (following G. R. Driver) has “lament.” The translator may have to be specific about what the psalmist desires or longs for: “O Lord, you know that I wish to be healed….” In line b my sighing represents suffering and distress (see the same Hebrew word in 6.6a “moaning”; 31.10b “sighing”; 102.5 “groaning”); so Good News Translation “groans.” It does not represent a wish or desire.

The opening words of verse 10 (My heart throbs) are taken as a physical symptom by most translations; New Jerusalem Bible, however, has “my mind is reeling,” which is possible, though not so appropriate here.

Bright eyes (verse 10b) were taken to be a sign of good health (see 13.3 and comments). The light of my eyes … has gone cannot be rendered literally in many languages without meaning that the person has become blind. Often one must say, for example, “my eyes no longer shine” or “my eyes are no longer clear as they were.”

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 .

before / in the sight of / presence of (God) (Japanese honorifics)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-mae (御前) or “before (God)” in the referenced verses. In some cases in can also be used in reference to being before a king, such as in 1 Samuel 16:16.

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

See also presence (Japanese honorifics) and before you / to you.