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.

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“create”)

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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, tsuku-rare-ru (造られる) or “create” is used.

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

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“sitting”)

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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, zashiteo-rare-ru (座しておられる) or “sitting” is used.

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

Translation commentary on 2 Kings 19:15

Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: The parallel text in Isa 37.15 has simply “Hezekiah prayed to the LORD.” The text here is redundant and perhaps awkward by saying prayed … and said. In this case it will probably be more important to be natural than to try to reflect the difference between the parallel texts if doing so will result in unnatural language. That Hezekiah prayed before the LORD seems to mean that he was in the Most Holy Place in front of the Covenant Box (see 1 Kgs 6.16).

Throughout Hezekiah’s prayer in verses 15-19, Revised Standard Version has archaic pronouns (thou, “thy,” “thee”) and verb forms (art, hast). This kind of language is typical of Revised Standard Version when God is addressed in prayer, but it does not reflect a difference in the underlying Hebrew text (see the comments on 1 Kgs 3.6). It is worth noting that New Revised Standard Version, as well as most other modern English versions, discards this old-fashioned convention. Translators should certainly not look for special forms to use in prayers since there are no special forms in the Hebrew.

Who art enthroned above the cherubim: In Hebrew the wording here is the same as in 1 Sam 4.4 and 2 Sam 6.2, where Revised Standard Version translates “who is/sits enthroned on the cherubim.” The image is that of a throne supported by the winged creatures that function as protectors of divine things throughout Scripture. God is depicted as sitting on this throne. This follows the description given in Exo 25.10-22.

For cherubim see the comments on 1 Kgs 6.23.

Thou art the God, thou alone: The words thou alone serve to reinforce the already strong statement thou art the God. This emphasis should be retained if it is natural in the language of translation.

Of all the kingdoms of the earth: The meaning of the preposition of may need to be spelled out more clearly in many languages. This does not necessarily mean that God is worshiped by all the kingdoms in the world, but rather that he is the ultimate ruler of every kingdom on earth. So some may prefer to translate “who rules over all the kingdoms in the world.”

Thou hast made heaven and earth: This is really a way of saying that God made all things. It would probably have reminded the first readers and hearers of Exo 20.11, where a longer statement is given. In many languages the two terms heaven and earth together will also convey an all-inclusive notion.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .