9The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?”
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, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding God.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 7:9:
Kupsabiny: “When the Caananites and all the people who live in this land hear these words/things, will they not surround us and destroy us all? When/If that happens, please, how can your name/reputation be kept/guarded?’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “As soon as the Canaanites and other peoples of this land hear this report, they will surround us and erase our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “This will-be-heard/[lit. will-be-news] by the Canaanhon and others who come-from-here, and they will-surround us (excl.) and kill (us). So, what would- you (sing.) -do in-order-to protect your (sing.) honor?’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The Canaan people-group and all the other people who are living in this land will hear about this. Then they will surround us and kill all of us! Then what will you do to defend your reputation /to show that you are a powerful God?’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 Translator2002, 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.
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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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-na (御名) or “name (of God)” in the referenced verses.
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 to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, nasaru (なさる), the respectful form of suru (する) or “do,” is used.
The Canaanites and everyone else in the country is literally “the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land” (Revised Standard Version). But in such a context Hebrew will often use “all” in the sense of “all the others” or “everyone else,” not excluding the group joined to “all” by the conjunction “and.” In many languages, such as English, a literal rendering of the Hebrew will convey a wrong sense.
Kill every one of us translates the Hebrew “cut off our name from the earth” (Revised Standard Version). It may be that the intent of the verb is to focus more upon the removal of the Israelites from the land than upon the slaughter of them. Accordingly one may render “drive us from the land”; the verb surround may then be translated either “come and attack us” or merely “come.”
This use of “name” leads to the final question in Joshua’s lament, “What will you do for your great name?” (see Revised Standard Version). Here the Lord’s name stands for his reputation, his honor; the defeat of his people would bring shame on him, for pagan Canaanites and all the others in the land would conclude that the God of the Hebrews was weak and had less power than their own gods. A god’s good reputation depended on the success of his people.
To protect your honor may need to be stated in a less abstract manner: “to keep people from saying evil things about you” or “to keep people from saying that you are not a great God.” The meaning may even be expressed “to keep people from saying that you could not protect your people.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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