bless(ed)

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The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Aramaic that is translated into English as “(to) bless” or “blessed” is translated into a wide variety of possibilities.

The Hebrew term barak (and the Aramaic term berak) also (and originally) means “kneel” (a meaning which the word has retained — see Gen. 24:11) and can be used for God blessing people (or things), people blessing each other, or people blessing God. While English Bible translators have not seen a stumbling block in always using the same term (“bless” in its various forms), other languages need to make distinctions (see below).

In Bari, spoken in South Sudan, the connection between blessing and knees/legs is still apparent. For Genesis 30:30 (in English: “the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned”), Bari uses a common expression that says (much like the Hebrew), ‘… blessed you to my feet.'” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)

Other examples for the translation of “bless” when God is the one who blesses include (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

  • “think well of” (San Blas Kuna)
  • “speak good to” (Amganad Ifugao)
  • “make happy” (Pohnpeian)
  • “cause-to-live-as-a-chief” (Zulu)
  • “sprinkle with a propitious (lit. cool) face” (a poetic expression occurring in the priests’ language) (Toraja Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “give good things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “ask good” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • “praise, say good things” (Central Yupik) (source: Robert Bascom)
  • “greatly love” (Candoshi-Shapra) (source: John C. Tuggy)
  • “showing a good heart” (Kutu) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “good luck — have — good fortune — have” (verbatim) ꓶꓼ ꓙꓳ ꓫꓱꓹ ꓙꓳ — ɯa dzho shes zho (Lisu). This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)
  • wodala — denoting a person who is considered fortunate because he/she has something good that the majority of people do not have. It also acknowledges someone as a causative agent behind “being blessed.” (Chichewa) (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

In Tagbanwa a phrase is used for both the blessing done by people and God that back-translates to “caused to be pierced by words causing grace/favor” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation) and in Benabena a term denoted “good spell” or “good magic” (source: Renck 1990, p. 112).

Ixcatlán Mazatec had to select a separate term when relating “to people ‘blessing’ God” (or things of God): “praise(d)” or “give thanks for” (in 1 Cor. 10:16) (“as it is humans doing the ‘blessing’ and people do not bless the things of God or God himself the way God blesses people” — source: Robert Bascom). Eastern Bru and Kui also use “praise” for this a God-directed blessing (source: Bru back translation and Helen Evans in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) and Uma uses “appropriate/worthy to be worshipped” (source: Uma back translation).

When related to someone who is blessing someone else, it is translated into Tsou as “speak good hopes for.” In Waiwai it is translated as “may God be good and kind to you now.” (Sources: Peng Kuo-Wei for Tsou and Robert Hawkins in The Bible Translator 1962, pp. 164ff. for Waiwai.)

Some languages associate an expression that originally means “spitting” or “saliva” with blessing. The Bantu language Koonzime, for instance, uses that expression for “blessing” in their translation coming from either God or man. Traditionally, the term was used in an application of blessing by an aged superior upon a younger inferior, often in relation to a desire for fertility, or in a ritualistic, but not actually performed spitting past the back of the hand. The spitting of saliva has the effect of giving that person “tenderness of face,” which can be translated as “blessedness.” (Source: Keith Beavon)

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “As for ‘blessing’, in the end we in most instances actually kept the word, after initially preferring the expression ‘giving life strength’. The backlash against dropping the word blessing was too hard. But we would often add a few words to help the reader understand what the word means in a given context — people often understand it to refer more to a spiritual connection with God, but in the Hebrew texts, it usually has to do with material things or good health or many children. So when e.g. in Isaiah 19:25 the Hebrew text says ‘God bless them’, we say ‘God bless them’ and we add: ‘and give them strength’. ‘And give them strength’ is not found in the overt Hebrew text, but we are again making explicit what we believe is the meaning so as to avoid misunderstanding.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also bless (food and drink), blessed (Christ in Mark 11:9), and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.

See also “Blessed by ‘The Blessing’ in the World’s Indigenous Languages” and Multilingual version of “The Blessing” based on Numbers 6:24-26 .

complete verse (Job 1:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 1:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “But you have guarded/taken care of him and all the people of his home on every side together with everything that he owns. You have blessed him so that, he is very rich in the land/world.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “What! You have protected his house and all his property, haven’t you? You have blessed all his work, and his wealth has increased all over the land.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (sing.) protect him and his household, as-well-as all his possessions. You (sing.) bless everything he does, therefore his animals increased-in-number in the entire land.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You have always protected him and his family and everything that he owns. You have made him very prosperous/rich. He has livestock all over this land.” (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.

Japanese honorifics (Job 1:10)

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 are (され) is affixed on verbs 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, shukufukus-are-ru (祝福される) or “bless” and meguras-are-ru (巡らされる) or “fence around” are used.

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

Translation commentary on Job 1:10

Satan goes on to complain in a second rhetorical question that he cannot carry out any action against Job because Yahweh has put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has. Hedges are used to mark boundaries between owners’ properties. Thorn hedges are also used to keep intruders out. Good News Translation has rendered Satan’s question as a statement and shifts from “put a hedge” to the purpose, “you have always protected him….” Other translations use different solutions; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch avoids the metaphor and says “you have kept him from harm”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “you don’t allow anyone to touch him.” New Jerusalem Bible replaces the hedge metaphor with “have you not put a wall around him?” Bible en français courant, like Good News Translation, states the purpose and adds a simile, “you protect him all around like in an enclosure.” In many language areas hedges are used for protection, particularly to keep animals out of cultivated plots. Where hedges are not known and used, it will be best to follow the kinds of adjustments suggested by the various modern translations cited above.

This is Satan’s second rhetorical question, and its force is to complain that God protects Job. In some languages the rhetorical question will not accomplish this purpose, and the translator must use a statement or other form; for example, in English one may say “The trouble is that you protect him,” “I object that you protect him,” or “I can do nothing because you take care of him.”

His house is the Hebrew form which here means “his family” (so Good News Translation, New English Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). From the context of the story, this must be taken in the sense of Job’s immediate family, his wife and children, although in the end his brothers and sisters come to celebrate his happy recovery.

And all that he has refers to all of Job’s vast possessions; Good News Translation “everything he owns.” The final phrase on every side goes with the initial part of the question “Have you not put a hedge all around him?”

Blessed the work of his hands expands Satan’s first question to a comment similar to the question; that is, Job worships God because God richly rewards him. The verb translated blessed is in the perfect tense in Hebrew, denoting past action continuing into the present. “Bless” refers to God’s giving his favor to someone; such blessings give the receiver happiness and prosperity. Most modern translations keep the word “bless” here (see Good News Translation). However, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is better with “you allow him to succeed in everything he undertakes,” and Bible en français courant has “you have certainly supported him in his endeavors.” In some languages it may be necessary to say “you have made him rich in everything he does” or “no matter what he does, you cause him to be rich.”

The work of his hands is not limited to certain activities done with the hands, but is an idiomatic way of saying “everything he does or undertakes” (so Good News Translation, New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

His possessions: the word translated possessions can refer to all of one’s wealth, but in Job it refers to his livestock. New Jerusalem Bible has “flocks,” which in English is appropriate for sheep but not for cattle, donkeys, and camels. New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible use “herds.” Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch have the more restricted “cattle.” In languages in which herds of animals are unknown, it may be necessary to say, for example, “all of his animals” or, in case this might suggest wild animals, “all the animals he takes care of.”

Increased in the land translates a verb which literally means “break out” and is used of Jacob’s sudden increase of wealth in Genesis 30.30 (“increased abundantly”); see also Genesis 38.29; Micah 2.13 (“breach”). Here it means that Job’s wealth is practically limitless, or as New English Bible says, “beyond measure.” Good News Translation “enough to fill the whole country” expresses the idea idiomatically and well. This expression serves as the result of Yahweh’s having blessed the work of his hands. In Revised Standard Version the two statements appear to be coordinate. In some languages it will be preferable to place the result before the reason; for example, “He has animals throughout the country because you have made him rich in everything he does.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .