Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 78:60:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“He left his house at Shiloh,
the tent that He built amidst the people.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“He abandoned the tent of meeting
which was in the place called Shiloh,
He had stayed with us there.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“He abandoned his tent at Shilo where he dwelled here on earth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“He left the House of God Shilo,
the tent he put in their midst.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Akayaacha makao yake ya katika Shilo,
hema ambayo alikaa katikati ya watu.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“He no longer appeared to them at Shiloh
in the tent where he had lived among them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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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-sumai (御住まい) or “dwelling (of God)” in the referenced verses.
More of Israel’s calamities are cited as examples of God’s anger with his people. Verse 59 begins When God heard; Good News Translation substitutes “saw” as being less difficult for the reader (also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). The main idea, in any case, is God’s awareness of what the Israelites were doing. New Jerusalem Bible has “God listened and…,” and Bible en français courant “When he became aware of this….”
The Hebrew full of wrath in verse 59a is the verb used in verses 21a, 62b. For comments on rejected see 15.4 (“despised”) and 53.5.
Shiloh was a city in the territory of the tribe of Ephraim, some 32 kilometers north of Jerusalem, where the Covenant Box was kept in the early days of Israel’s history (see Josh 18.1; 1 Sam 1.3). Verse 60b Good News Translation has “where he had lived among us”: the Hebrew word translated “us” is generic, ʾadam, “humankind, humanity,” but the reference is specifically to Israel, not to the human race as a whole (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). However, a translator may prefer to retain the idea of humankind and translate “the place where he had lived among human beings” or “the place where he had lived on earth.” New Jerusalem Bible avoids the problem by translating “the tent where he used to dwell on the earth.”
In verse 61 it is agreed that his power and his glory which God allowed to be taken captive refer to the Covenant Box, which the Philistines captured in battle (1 Sam 4.1-22). Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Bible en français courant name the Covenant Box; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says only “the symbol of his glory and power.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and New Jerusalem Bible have footnotes to indicate that the language refers to the Covenant Box. Glory here translates a word meaning “beauty, ornament” (see also comments at 71.8b). If the translator follows Good News Translation‘s “Covenant Box,” this expression may be rendered “the box that held God’s agreement with his people” or “the box containing the writing of the agreement between God and his 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 .
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