complete verse (Habakkuk 3:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Habakkuk 3:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “The mountains saw you and trembled. Rivers poured out and the whirlwind came to the ocean with waters roaring.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The mountains saw you and trembled.
    The rain comes pouring from the sky
    and the deep ocean will make a loud noise and waves will be churned up.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The mountains are like people that when they see you (sing.) they trembled.
    It rained so hard;
    the water in the sea roared and the waves become-bigger.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The mountains that see you (sing.),
    they tremble with their fear
    and it-rained strongly.
    The deep oceans, they rumbled/roared,
    and their waves became-strong.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “It is as though the mountains saw you doing that,
    and they trembled.
    Floods rushed by;
    it was as though the deep ocean roared and caused its waves to rise up high.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 Habakkuk 3:10

The description of the storm and its effect continues, in terms very similar to those of Psalm 77.16-18. The mountains saw thee and writhed: the Hebrew word translated “writhe” is often associated with the movements a woman makes in childbirth (compare Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “like a woman who lies in birth pangs”). Other terms used in English versions are “shiver” (Jerusalem Bible), “tremble” (New American Bible), and “rock” (New Jerusalem Bible). This movement may refer either to an earth tremor accompanying the storm, or more probably to the effect of flash floods running down the mountain sides. Many languages have a term that refers to the movements of a woman in labor, and if such a term does not sound strange when applied to mountains, it may be good to use it here for poetic effect.

The raging waters swept on: this refers to the newly formed streams dashing down the mountains, or to the “torrent of rain” (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) as it falls from the sky. Good News Translation takes this second interpretation and says “water poured down from the skies.” Compare Bible en français courant “torrential rains flood the earth.”

The deep gave forth its voice: the Hebrew word translated the deep is the same word as that used in Gen 1.2. It has overtones of cosmic forces opposed to God (compare verse 8). In the Hebrew world view, the deep referred to “the waters under the earth,” and Good News Translation translates in these terms. However, it is possible that in this context the prophet is thinking of the sea roaring as the flooded rivers pour into it (compare Bible en français courant, New American Bible “the ocean,” New English Bible “the deep sea”).

The last line, it lifts its hands on high, fits well with the interpretation of the deep as the ocean. Its hands then refers to the waves rising high in the storm. Good News Translation states this meaning in nonfigurative language as “their waves rose high” (compare New International Version). An alternative translation model for these two lines is “the sea roared, and its waves rose high” or “the sea made a roaring sound and its waves bubbled up and frothed.” For cultures which live in the mountains far away from any sea, one may have to say something like this: “the huge lake made a roaring sound…” or “the great expanse of water made a roaring sound….”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on the Book of Habakkuk. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1989. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .