Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 9:19:
Uma: “So, certainly there will some person who will say like this: ‘If it is like that, then why does God criticize our bad behavior, because our that behavior of ours is just following his decision [he made] beforehand.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Perhaps one of you (pl.) says to me, ‘If it is like that, why does God find-fault/accuse people. Nobody can oppose his will/wish.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Certainly there will be someone who says, ‘If that’s the case with God, then why does He get angry with people because of their sins, because it is not possible for them not to obey what God wants.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Now there may be those of you who will say, ‘If that is indeed the case, why does God still accuse-people -of-sin? Is there even one person who is able-to-change what God wants?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I suppose that there is someone who wants to say to me: ‘How come then God says that the people have sin? Because no one can go against what God has determined’ they will say to me. Now we, being just people, who are we to say that we do not look well upon what God has determined? Take a pot, for instance, can it say to the maker of pots: ‘I do not look well upon the form in which you have made me’ it will say.” (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 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 the latter two 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 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, seme-rare-ru (責められる) or “denounce/fault” is used.
This verse is similar to verse 14 in that it also introduces questions which Paul believes can be raised by his opponents: If this is so (that is, what Paul has just stated in verse 18), how can God find fault with a man? Who can resist God’s will? Paul deals with these questions in a way similar to that in which he dealt with the question raised in 3.5-6. He does not really answer the questions; he merely denies that a man has the right to raise them.
The Good News Translation makes the pronominal references explicit: God for Greek “he” and God’s for “his.”
Since questions are introduced in verse 19, it may be necessary to say “will ask me” rather than simply will say to me. The conditional clause if this is so may require some expansion: “if this is the way God does things” or “if this is how God acts.”
Resist God’s will may be translated in some languages as “fight back against what God wants,” “refuse what God wants,” or “object to what God wants.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
One of you will say to me: In the Greek, a word that is usually translated as “then” or “therefore” connects One of you will say to me to what Paul said in 9:14–18. The Berean Standard Bible omits this word. However, many English versions include it. For example:
You will say to me then… (English Standard Version)
In many languages this word must be first in the clause. For example:
Then you will say…
-or-
So, you will say…
Some languages will use a different word to connect “You will say to me” to 9:18 in a natural way. For example:
And you will say…
-or-
Now you will say…
One of you: The word you is singular in the Greek. This letter is addressed to the whole church in Rome. So, here the singular you refers to someone in a general way. It does not accuse the whole church in Rome of asking the following questions of Paul. Some languages must translate differently for the correct meaning. For example:
certainly there will some person who
-or-
maybe someone
will say to me: 9:19b–c are questions. In some languages the word “ask” will be more natural. For example:
ask me (New Jerusalem Bible)
9:19b
Then why does God still find fault?: There is a textual issue here. The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Then means “then, therefore.” It occurs in some Greek manuscripts after the word translated why. There are two options:
(1) It should be included. For example:
How then can he ever blame anyone…? (New Jerusalem Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)
(2) It should be omitted. For example:
Why does he still find fault? (Revised Standard Version)
(Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Version, English Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, NET Bible)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because the Greek NT 5 includes it.
This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes the meaning of “God should not find fault (with anyone).” This hypothetical person thinks that God should not find fault with any person. Translate this clause with that meaning. Here are some ways:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Then why does God blame us for our sins? (New Century Version)
• As a statement. For example:
He should not blame is for our sins.
All the English versions in Translator’s Workplace and all the commentators consulted translate this as a question.
find fault: This phrase refers to accusing someone of wrongdoing. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
blame (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
accuse people of sin
9:19c
For: This word introduces an explanation for the question in 9:19b, or gives a basis for that question.
who can resist His will?: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes that no one can resist God’s will. Translate this clause with that meaning. Here are some ways:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
who can oppose his will? (New American Bible, Revised Edition)
• As a statement. For example:
no one can oppose his will (New Jerusalem Bible)
who can resist: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as can resist uses the perfect tense in the Greek. Here it indicates an ongoing situation. For example:
who resists his will (New International Version)
It indicates that when God decides something, no one has ever changed what he decides into something else. It implies that no one is able to change his decisions, so some translations use can resist.
resist: This word refers to opposing something. Here it implies successfully gaining victory over it. For example, if God decided someone will die, no one can change that outcome. Here are other ways to translate this word:
oppose (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
fight (New Century Version)
His will: Here the word will refers to making a decision. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
what God wants
-or-
his determined-plan
General Comment on 9:19b–c
The basis (9:19c) occurs after the conclusion (9:19b). In some languages it is more natural to have the conclusion last. For example:
No one can resist his will. Then why does God still find fault?
-or-
No one can resist his will. Then God should not still find fault!
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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