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.

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

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.

Translation commentary on 2 Esdras 3:7

And thou didst lay upon him one commandment of thine: Lay upon him may be rendered simply “gave him” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version). The commandment was that Adam and Eve must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (see Gen 2.17).

But he transgressed it: The verb transgressed may be translated “disobeyed” (Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version).

And immediately may be expressed as “As soon as he did that [or, disobeyed].”

Thou didst appoint death for him and for his descendants: Although this is not the only way the Genesis account may be understood, the author follows the interpretation that God did not assign death for human beings until after Adam and Eve had disobeyed his command regarding the forbidden fruit. We may render this clause as “you decided that he and all of his descendants would eventually die.”

From him there sprang nations and tribes, peoples and clans, without number: The Latin words for nations, tribes, peoples, and clans have no distinct meanings here, so the translator need not struggle to find four different terms if it proves difficult. This sentence notes that all the peoples of the world descend from Adam, who sinned against God. We may say “Today peoples, nations, and tribes that cannot be numbered are Adam’s descendants” or “Today countless peoples, nations, and tribes are Adam’s descendants.”

Here is a model for the whole verse:

• You gave him one command, but he disobeyed it. As soon as he did, you decided that he and all his descendants would not live forever, but would some day die. Today countless peoples, nations, and tribes are Adam’s descendants.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Esdras. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.