hand (of God) (Japanese honorifics)

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-te (御手) or “hand (of God)” in the referenced verses.

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

See also hand of the LORD.

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.

Translation commentary on Psalm 44:1 - 44:2

The psalm opens with a reminder to God of all the great things that God had done for the people of Israel, particularly how he had driven the heathen nations from the land of Canaan and let Israel occupy it (verses 2-3). The psalmist concentrates on the military victories which God had given his people in the past (in their days, in the days of old), because it is a recent disastrous military defeat that causes the psalmist to compose his lament.

Our fathers in verse 1b means “our ancestors.”

If the translator follows the structure of Good News Translation in verse 1, some recasting may be required, since the referent of “it” in lines a and b occurs in line c. It will be necessary therefore in many languages to place line c first, to be followed by lines a and b; for example, “You did great things for our ancestors when they lived, O God; with our ears we have heard about them, they have told us about them.”

With thy own hand means “by means of your own power (or, strength).”

Drive out the nations: this refers to the expulsion of the various Canaanite peoples (the nations … the peoples) from the land of Canaan as the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, invaded the land. The term “heathen” or nations is rendered in some languages “the people who worship false gods.”

In verse 2b the verb plant is used figuratively of settling the people of Israel in Canaan (see Exo 15.17; 2 Sam 7.10; Jer 11.17).

The Hebrew term translated the peoples and “the other nations” is often rendered as “the tribes.” The verb translated afflict (verse 2c) means literally “to do evil to”–a strong word; and set free translates the verb “send out,” which is probably the figure of a vigorous tree whose branches grow and spread out, a figure of prosperity (so Good News Translation “caused … to prosper”). Dahood and New English Bible take it in the sense of “send out roots,” the idea of firmness, stability; New Jerusalem Bible takes the verb to refer to the heathen nations, “you drove them out,” but the structure of the verse seems to favor taking the Israelites as the object of the verb. Good News Translation‘s “caused your own to prosper” may in some languages be translated “you made your own people have good things” or “you gave good gifts to your own people.”

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 .