take root

The now commonly-used English idiom “take root” (for becoming firmly fixed or established) was first coined in 1560 in the Geneva Bible (in the spelling take roote). (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 274)

For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.

complete verse (Jeremiah 12:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 12:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “You planted them and you have put down the roots
    (they) grow and produce food/crops.
    They always speak well about you
    but you are not in their lives.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (sing.) have-blessed them like a tree that have-taken-root, that grew and bear-fruit. They praise you (sing.) from/in their mouth only and not from their heart.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

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 (“staying faraway”)

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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, hanareteo-rare-ru (離れておられる) or “staying faraway” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 12:2

For plantest see 2.21.

Most translators will find they can retain the imagery of the first part of the verse, thou plantest them … bring forth fruit; but if these figures would be misunderstood, then translators can use a comparison; for example, “You established them as someone plants a tree, and they become well settled. And just as trees grow and produce fruit, so they prosper.”

Thou art near in their mouth is a Hebrew way of saying “They always speak well of you” (Good News Translation) or “Their mouth is always talking about you” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). However, one commentator argues it is better rendered “They are always saying, ‘You are near.’ ”

Heart is literally “kidneys” (see 11.20). The expression far from their heart means “they do not really care about you” (Good News Translation). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch uses an idiomatic expression: “but their heart is far from you.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .