form of address between the persons of the Trinity

In Hindi a differentiation is made between the way that the different persons of the Trinity are addressed by a regular person or by another person of the Trinity. When Jesus addresses God the Father or when God the Father addresses Jesus, a familiar form of address is used, unlike the way that any of them would be addressed with a honorific (pl.) form by anyone else.

Source: C.S. Thoburn in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 180ff.

complete verse (John 17:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 17:18:

  • Uma: “Like Father sent me here to the world, so also I send them going to other people in the world.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “I have told them to go to the people in the world, as I was told by you to come to the world.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Just like you sent me here to the earth, I will also send them so that they may preach to all mankind.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because here-now I am sending them to their companions in this world just like the way you (sing.) sent me.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “In the way in which you sent me to go teaching here among the mass of people who are sinners, like that too I am now sending them, that they too go and teach the people who are still far from you.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Just like you have sent me to the world, so also I have appointed them to speak the word among the people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“send”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 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, tsukawas-are-ru (遣わされる) or “send” is used.

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

Translation commentary on John 17:18

Good News Translation inverts the order of the two clauses in this verse. The Greek literally reads “just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” This inversion produces a more natural English style. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has the same restructuring. Five times it is said in this chapter that the Father sent Jesus into the world, and in this verse Jesus speaks of sending the disciples into the world in the same way that the Father sent him into the world. The time perspective of this verse is best understood as the time of the writing of the Gospel, rather than that of Jesus’ prayer. In fact, not until 20.21 (where the present tense is used) does Jesus actually send the disciples into the world.

If the past tense form of sent is retained in translation, the reference of this verse may be limited to such occasions as the one when Jesus sent his disciples out two by two to proclaim the kingdom in the villages and towns. The wider implications of this statement would then be lost. Therefore it may be preferable in some languages to use a perfect tense, and so avoid the resulting misunderstanding, for example, “I have sent them into the world.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .