The Greek in Hebrews 12:9 that is translated as “Father of spirits” or similar in English is translated in Elhomwe as “Father in spirit.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Heb. 12:9)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the writer and the readers of this letter).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
complete verse (Hebrews 12:9)
Following are a number of back-translations of Hebrews 12:9:
- Uma: “Even our father in the world, he advise us and we honor him. So, how much more the Father of our souls. If he advises us, we really submit in order that we get good life.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Even our (incl.) fathers here in this world punished us (incl.) and yet we (incl.) honored them. Na, more so should we (dual) humble/put-down ourselves to our (incl.) Father in heaven so that he will give us (dual) life without end.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For even our (incl.) Father here on the earth, when He trains us we have to submit ourselves to Him just the same. How much more should we submit ourselves to our Father who is in Heaven? For by means of this we can come to own life which is forever.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “As for our fathers on this earth, they admonished us (particle indicates the admonishing was appreciated), and we respected them because of their doing so. So even-more ought we to submit-ourselves to (cause-ourselves-to-be-ruled-by) our Father in heaven so we will intensively-live (both long and good life).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Is it not so that we respect our father here in the world if he doesn’t just leave-alone/ignore our actions which are not good but rather he corrects (us)? Therefore we are all-the-more to submit to the correction by God who has become our Father because of our believing/obeying, for if it’s like that, the outcome is that our life will become far-from-ordinary.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tenango Otomi: “After all, when we were small, our fathers punished us, whipping us when we did wrong. Yet we still respected them. Therefore now, how much less should we say that our Father who lives in heaven should not be respected by us. For he it is who wants us to have new minds.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Translation commentary on Hebrews 12:9
The writer now moves on to speak of human fathers in verses 9-10, coming back to the main theme in verse 11. Verses 9-10 consist of two “how much more” comparisons, as, for example, in 9.14.
Revised Standard Version‘s “Besides this” marks the transition; New English Bible and Barclay use “Again”; Phillips has “After all”; other common language translations and Translator’s New Testament omit it. Human fathers or “earthly fathers” (Revised Standard Version) gives the meaning of King James Version and Moffatt‘s literal “fathers of our flesh.” On “flesh,” see comments on 2.14. There is a clear contrast with God as spiritual Father, so human or its equivalent should not be omitted, as Phillips does.
It may be possible to render In the case of our human fathers as “Think about our human fathers.” But in some languages it may seem strange to talk about “human fathers.” One can talk about “our fathers here on earth,” but it may be more satisfactory to say “Consider what our own fathers did to us; they punished us and we honored them” or “… respected them.”
Respected translates a word which includes also the meaning of submit. Two different words are used, more for the sake of variety than to express different ideas. However, the word for submit is stronger.
Our spiritual Father is also the translation of New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, and Translator’s New Testament. Barclay has “a spiritual Father”; Bible en français courant and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy use “our heavenly Father”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “our divine Father”; Bijbel in Gewone Taal translates “God who is our Father in a higher sense.” The phrase is literally “the Father of spirits,” as in Revised Standard Version. “Our” is expressed in the previous phrase, literally “fathers of our flesh,” meaning human fathers, and is probably implied in “the Father of spirits” also, as reflected in Good News Translation and also Moffatt, “Father of our spirits.” Translators should make sure that the difference between father and Father is clear even when the passage is read aloud. The simplest way of doing this is by using adjectives such as “human” and “spiritual.” It may be difficult in translation to speak of our spiritual Father, since this might turn out to mean nothing more than “our Father who is a spirit.” In that case “our Father in heaven” or even “God who is our Father in heaven” may be used instead.
How much more…!: it may be convenient to use an emphatic statement rather than an exclamation, since the exclamation suggests a comparison which may require expansion. Accordingly, the first part of the second sentence of this verse may be rendered as “Therefore we should certainly submit to the punishment that our Father in heaven gives us” or “… causes us to experience.”
And live implies “and therefore live”; New English Bible “and so attain life”; Knox and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “and draw life from him”; Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente “have life.” Phillips (similarly Barclay) has “and learn how to live,” which fits in well with the idea of bringing up children. However, the writer may be thinking of Exodus 20.12, which says that you may live a long time in the land; therefore he may be concerned, not only with the initial training of children, but with a whole way of life which God can bless with prosperity. Alternatively, the meaning may be that if the readers do what the writer recommends, they will survive the final test and receive the gift of eternal life. Verses 10 and 11b suggest that the writer is more concerned about a good relationship with God than with rules of behavior.
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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