If the Hebrew or (the transliterated) Greek “Amen” (as part of a prayer) is not transliterated it can also be translated into expressions such as “that is just the way it is” (Huichol), “that’s it” (Shilluk), “may it be thus” (Tzeltal) (source: Bratcher / Nida), or “Let those things thus be” (Kituba) (source: Donald Deer in The Bible Translator 1973, p. 207ff. ).
In Mairasi the translation is aniaut aug or “it’s a tuberful dig.” The preface to Enggavoter 2004 explains: “Truth is like a tuber [sweet potatoes, taro, cassava, yams]. We Mairasi have tubers as our standard food. The leaves are visible above ground. But we planted the plant so that it would produce tubers, but those are beneath the ground. So the vocabulary about ‘truth’ and ‘produce’ or ‘fruit’ is based on words for ‘tubers.’ For example: the word for ‘Amen’ ‘it’s a tuberful dig’ [also used for ‘verily’ or ‘definitely’] has its story like this: We see the leaves of the sweet potato but we do not know: the question is ‘Are there tubers or not?.’ So we dig then we see tubers. Therefore we say that ani ‘dig’ was aut ‘with tubers,’ which is ‘Aniaut!‘ ‘Definitely true!'”
In Huba it is translated as Aɗǝmja or “let it be so.” David Frank (in this blog post ) explains: “Whenever there were persistent problems such as a drought, or a rash of sickness or death, the king (or his religious advisor) would set aside a day and call on everyone to prepare food, such as the traditional mash made from sorghum, or perhaps even goat. The food had to be put together outside. The king or his religious advisor would give an address stating what the problem was and what they were doing about it. Then an elder representing the people would take a handful of that food and throw it, probably repeating that action several times, until it was considered to be enough to atone for all the misfortune they had been having. With this action he was ‘shooting (or casting off) misfortune’ to restore well-being to his people. As he threw the food, he would say that this is to remove the misfortune that had fallen on his people, and everybody would respond by saying aɗǝmja, ‘let it be so.’ People could eat some of this food, but they could not bring the food into their houses, because that would mean that they were bringing misfortune into their house. There is still a minority of people in this linguistic and cultural group that practices the traditional religion, but the shooting of misfortune is no longer practiced, and the term ‘shoot misfortune’ is used now in Bible translation to refer to offering a sacrifice. Aɗǝmja is how they translate ‘amen.'”
Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 1:7:
Uma: “Look! There he comes in the clouds! All people will see him, even the people who stabbed him long ago. And all people in the world will mourn seeing him. Thus indeed! Amin!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Listen. Isa Almasi will come here with/on bright-clouds. All people will see him including the people who killed him. All people from all tribes in the world will grieve because of the judgment that will soon come. Yes, this is certainly true. Amin.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus Christ will arrive being seen in the clouds and all mankind will see Him including the people who speared Him long ago. As for all kinds of people here on the earth, they will weep because of Him because they will be afraid of punishment. May all this come to pass.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Remember/Consider this. Jesus will come accompanying the clouds, and all people will see him. Even those who nailed him to the cross, they will see him. And extreme will be the sorrow (lit. pain of mind) of all people on the earth because of him. This is utterly true.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Consider this, he will come like he will pass between the clouds. This really will be seen by all people, including those who killed him. Well because of him, all nations of people here under the heavens will cry, for they will then comprehend about punishment. It really will truly be like this.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “So now, this Christ will be seen that he will come from heaven, accompanied with a cloud. All the people will see it. Those people who attached him to the cross will see him when he comes. When the people who live on earth will see him, all will talk-sadness. Amen, it will be thus.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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 ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one 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 in the following way: “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 <em>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 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, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are 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. ).
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 show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, ko-rare-ru (来られる) or “come” is used.
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 show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used.
In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The opening interjection Behold is a way of calling the attention of the reader to what follows. Revised Standard Version often translates the same Greek command elsewhere in Revelation by the archaic English term “Lo!” It may be translated “Look” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), or “See” (An American Translation, Phillips), or “Pay attention” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Some translations do not have a distinct word to represent it (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). But in a number of Asian and African languages where particles such as this are an essential part of discourse, translators should use an appropriate particle here as an attention-getter. And in certain languages it is more natural style for commands such as this to employ a first person inclusive plural pronoun; for example, “Let us look….”
He is coming with the clouds: the subject is Jesus Christ, and this will need to be made explicit in many languages. The figure of “coming with the clouds” goes back to Dan 7.13 and appears a number of times in the Gospels (Matt 24.30; 26.64; Mark 13.26; 14.62), “with (upon, in) the clouds”; Luke 21.27 has “in a cloud.” This describes the return of the glorified Christ to the world, and the clouds are, so to speak, his means of transportation (see Psa 104.3b). The present tense “he comes” describes the event as taking place in the immediate future; the translation should not say he is coming now, at the time of this event. Translators need to decide which preposition, “with” or “upon,” is more natural in their languages.
Every eye will see him, every one who pierced him: these words reflect Zech 12.10. The statement “Everyone will see him” is followed in the Greek by “and those who pierced him.” Here the Greek “and” serves to mark an explanation, emphasizing in particular one group that will see him. Most translations have “even those who…” (New International Version, New American Bible, Revised, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje, New Revised Standard Version, Bible en français courant); Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation have “including those who…,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “especially those who….” In certain languages it will be necessary to render this phrase as “all those people who….” The verb “to pierce” means here to put to death by the thrust of a sword or a spear. John 19.34 describes how the Roman soldier pierced the side of Jesus with his spear, but uses a different verb from the one used here. At John 19.37, however, the quotation from Zech 12.10 has the same verb for “pierce” that is used here (the verb appears nowhere else in the New Testament). The figure here is used of those responsible for Jesus’ death, either the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem or the Roman authorities, or all of them. In many languages it will be necessary to make explicit the instrument used in the “piercing” and say, for example, “all those who had (caused) him (to be) pierced with a spear” or “all those who caused people to kill him by piercing him with a spear.”
All tribes of the earth will wail on account of him: this is a way of speaking of all the inhabitants of the world: “all the peoples of the world” (Revised English Bible). Here wail means to weep loudly, but it is not clear whether the weeping is caused by remorse or repentance over what they did, or by fear or despair over what is about to happen. Commentators are divided on the question, and most translations are not specific. Commentators who prefer the idea of fear or despair point to 18.9 and Matt 24.30, and this is probably the meaning intended. Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible “mourn over him” represents sorrow; Revised English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Barclay have “lament in remorse.” One may also say “weep over (or, because of) him with a loud voice.”
Even so. Amen. This is a double confirmation, using the Greek term nai, “yes,” “indeed,” and the Hebrew term ʾamen. In certain languages this double affirmation may be expressed as “It will be like this for sure. So be it!”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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