complete verse (Psalm 69:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 69:19:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “You know how I have been insulted,
    insulted and being humiliated; all my enemies are before you.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “You know how people have disgraced me.
    You know how much I have been scorned
    and had to live with shame.
    You know everything about all
    that my enemies are doing.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “You (sing.) yourself know how they put- me -to-shame and insult (me).
    You have-seen all my enemies.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “You know way in which your enemies insulted me,
    when they made me to be shamed,
    you see all my enemies.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Wewe unajua ambavyo natukanwa,
    kufedheheswa na kuaibishwa kwangu,
    maadui zangu wote wewe unawajua.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “You know that I am insulted
    and that people cause me to feel ashamed and dishonored;
    you know who all my enemies are.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

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.

know (Japanese honorifics)

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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 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 or a person or persons to be greatly honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-zonji (ご存じ), a combination of “know” (zonji) and the honorific prefix go-.

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

Translation commentary on Psalm 69:19 - 69:21

In strong, bitter language, the psalmist describes his situation, which is well known to God. Words are used that have already appeared in this psalm: reproach (verses 7a, 10b); shame (verse 7b); dishonor (verse 6d); Insults (verse 9b). But God knows who all his enemies are; he keeps his eye on them (verse 19c; literally “are in front of you”).

The figure of a broken … heart has already been encountered in 51.17b; there it expresses contrition and repentance. Here, however, it means that the psalmist has been deeply offended and hurt by the insults his enemies hurl at him. Insults have broken my heart may have to be recast in translation so that two events are depicted. For example, “my enemies insulted me and my head is lowered” or “my enemies have said bad things about me and my heart sits heavy in me.”

I am in despair (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) translates a word found nowhere else in the Old Testament; as used in the Masoretic text, it is of uncertain form and meaning. K-B suggests an adjective, “incurable, desperate.” Briggs takes it to be a form of the verb “to be in poor health” (used in 2 Sam 12.15). New Jerusalem Bible has a vivid translation, “Insult has broken my heart past cure.”

The word translated pity describes a shaking of the head from side to side as an expression of condolence, of fellow feeling; no human sympathy, no comfort, for the psalmist! I looked for pity in some languages can be rendered idiomatically; for example, “I wanted someone to show me their warm insides.” Comforters may be rendered as “people who can encourage me” or, idiomatically, “people who can cause my heart to be strong.”

It is impossible to decide whether verse 21 is meant literally or figuratively; it probably is the latter, for had the psalmist swallowed poison, he would hardly have survived. The word poison translates “bitter” (so “gall” in some translations, which is also the Greek word in the Septuagint that is used in Matt 27.34). If the sense of poison is not to be taken literally but figuratively, as suggested above, the translator should avoid using a word for poison which would mean certain death if eaten. It may be best to translate in such a way as to leave no doubt that the psalmist did not undergo a test by eating poison, as is used in some cultures to establish innocence. For example, “They gave me food that tasted as bad as poison” or “The food they gave me to eat tasted like bitter poison.” Food occurs only once more, in Lamentations 4.10; it is specifically the meal brought to a mourner by sympathetic friends. Vinegar represents a word whose meaning is probably closer to “cheap, sour wine” (as a drink) than to vinegar (as a condiment). But some take it to be vinegar as such, which the psalmist’s enemies poured into his drink to make him even thirstier. In languages where vinegar is unknown, it is often possible to say “a sour drink.”

The language of verse 21, as translated in the Septuagint, is reflected in the accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion: see Matthew 27.34, 48; Mark 15.36; Luke 23.36; John 19.29.

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)

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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 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.