הָמ֣וּ ג֭וֹיִם מָ֣טוּ מַמְלָכ֑וֹת נָתַ֥ן בְּ֝קוֹל֗וֹ תָּמ֥וּג אָֽרֶץ׃
6The nations are in an uproar; the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice; the earth melts.
In Gbaya, the notion of rising up in large numbers in the referenced verses is emphasized in with the ideophone gɛrɛm.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
One interesting story from the translation of the English Bible is William Shakespeare’s rumored translation of Psalm 46 in the King James Version (Authorised Version). Shakespeare’s 46th birthday occurred in 1611 (some sources say 1610), which coincided with the publication date of the King James Bible. Careful readers realized that the 46th word from the beginning of Psalm 46 is “shake,” and the 46th word from the end is “spear” (or in the first edition: “speare”).
Susan Gillingham wrote this about the assertion in 2012 (p. 172f.): “[William Shakespeare’s] collected works offer allusions to over sixty different psalms. His source was almost certainly the Geneva Bible; given that the King James Bible was published in 1611, some five years before his death, and that it took some time before it overtook the popularity of the Geneva Bible, it is more likely that his allusions to psalmody are from the latter translation. But others have had a different view. An article in the Times some forty years ago popularized the idea that Shakespeare had a particular hand in the translation of some of the Psalms for the King James Bible. The key evidence was from Psalm 46: Shakespeare would have been 46 in 1610, the year before the publication, and when one reads in 46 words from the beginning of Ps. 46:1 (starting with ‘God’), and then 46 words from the end of Ps. 46:11 (after the rubric ‘Selah’), one gets a combination of words ‘shake+speare’. Was this some secret coding by Shakespeare himself, or maybe a birthday attribution by the translators? Another view presumes that Shakespeare had a hand in Psalm 23, as his birthday fell on 23 April. However, it is more likely that the fifty-four translators possibly did not recognize the literary worth of Shakespeare for what it was (noting that Sir Thomas Bodley wrote to the Keeper of the Books, Thomas James, as late as 1598, telling him not to fill the library with those ‘Baggage Books,’ i.e. the folios of Shakespeare), but rather used their own committee of clerics, academics and theologians.”
Note: Other scholars, including Naseeb Shaheen (2011, p. 20), insist that Miles Coverdale’s translation of the Psalms that was typically included in the Book of Common Prayer, was Shakespeare’s preferred English translation of the Psalms.
Psalm 46 in the original King James Version:
1 God is our refuge and strength: a very present helpe in trouble.
2 Therfore will not we feare, though the earth be remoued: and though the mountaines be caried into the midst of the sea.
3 Though the waters thereof roare, and be troubled, though the mountaines shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a riuer, the streames wherof shall make glad the citie of God: the holy place of the Tabernacles of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her: she shal not be moued; God shall helpe her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdomes were mooued: he vttered his voyce, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with vs; the God of Iacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the workes of the Lord, what desolations hee hath made in the earth.
9 He maketh warres to cease vnto the end of the earth: hee breaketh the bow, and cutteth the speare in sunder, he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be stil, and know that I am God: I will bee exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with vs; the God of Iacob is our refuge. Selah.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 46:6:
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Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )
See also king (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-koe (御声) or “voice (of God)” in the referenced verses. This is used specifically to refer to the “voice” of God or used in a reference of God saying something.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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, hasse-rare-ru (発せられる) or “give forth” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
In verse 6a rage translates the same Hebrew verb that is translated roar in verse 3. The basic idea of the verb is to be in tumult, be noisy; here the emotion is either that of fear or of confusion. Good News Translation “are terrified”; New English Bible “are in tumult”; New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible “are in uproar.” Perhaps something like “The nations roar in fear” or “… roar in dismay” is better.
For other references to the thunder of God’s voice (verse 6b) see 18.13; 29.3-9 and comments. The result, the earth melts, is probably not meant literally, but figuratively of fear and terror on the part of humankind. In some translations it may be useful to follow Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, which places first “He lets his voice be heard,” and then the result of the roar of God’s voice, “peoples tremble, kingdoms totter, the whole earth disappears in anguish.” The expressions The nations rage and the kingdoms totter refer to the Gentiles. In languages which require an explicit agent, it is possible to say, for example, “God frightens the countries of the other tribes and shakes their kingdoms.” If the translator follows Good News Translation‘s “God thunders,” in many languages it will be necessary to shift to a simile; for example, “God speaks with a noise like thunder makes.” If one follows more literally the Hebrew “God gave his voice,” it will be possible to translate, for example, “God made his voice heard.”
The refrain (verse 7) uses two titles of God: The LORD of hosts is a military title, portraying God as the commander of the armies (“Yahweh of armies”). The God of Jacob appears often in the psalms; Jacob is either the historical personage, or else a name for the people of Israel (see 20.1).
The expression LORD of hosts is sometimes rendered “LORD of the armies.” Since the focus is upon the power of the LORD, this title may also be rendered, for example, “the LORD, who is the strongest of all” or “the LORD, who is all powerful” or “the LORD, who has all strength.”
As in most first person plural references in the Psalms, it will be necessary to translate with us using the inclusive pronominal reference in languages which make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive, in order to include the psalmist and his fellow worshipers who are addressed in this psalm.
The God of Jacob must sometimes be translated as “the God of our ancestor Jacob” or “the God whom our ancestor Jacob worshiped.” Otherwise there is the possibility that Jacob will not be sufficiently identified.
For refuge see comments on “stronghold” in 9.9.
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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