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.

Translation commentary on 3 Maccabees 2:9

You, O King, when you had created the boundless and immeasurable earth … : Addressing God (or a person) simply as “King” is awkward in English; this is why Revised Standard Version says O King and Contemporary English Version has “Our King.” Some languages will have even more elegant ways of addressing royalty. A possible model for the beginning of this verse is “When you, our King, created this huge world that is too big to measure….”

Chose this city and sanctified this place for your name: The idea here is that God created the whole earth, huge as it is, but out of all that space, he chose Jerusalem, this one spot, for the Temple where he would be worshiped. He could have chosen any place, but in fact Jerusalem was his choice. This place refers specifically to the Temple (see 3 Macc 1.9). For your name is a way of saying that God would be worshiped there.

Though you have no need of anything: God did not have any need for a temple to be built, but he wanted it done (compare Acts 17.25; 2 Macc 14.35-36).

A possible model for the first half of this verse is:

• “You, our King, created this huge world that is too big to measure. But even though you did not need anything, you chose this city [Jerusalem] as your own, and made this Temple a sacred [or, taboo] place where we would worship you.

And when you had glorified it by your magnificent manifestation refers to 2 Chr 5.11-14, where God filled the Temple with his glory after it was completed. God’s appearance was the magnificent manifestation (or “epiphany” as the Revised Standard Version footnote has it—another word for “appearance”) in the Temple. God glorified it—gave the Temple its real magnificence—by accepting it as the place where he would be worshiped. So we may render this clause as “You made it magnificent when you appeared here in your glory.”

You made it a firm foundation for the glory of your great and honored name means God established the Temple as the place for worshiping him.

A possible model for this verse is:

• “O God, our King, after you had created this enormous earth, you chose, out of all its vast area, this city. You did not need anything, not even a Temple, but you made this Temple a holy [or, sacred/taboo] place where we could worship you. You made it magnificent by appearing here in your glory. You established it firmly as the place where we would praise you and give you honor.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 3-4 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2018. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.