inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Neh 9:9)

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, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Lord.

complete verse (Nehemiah 9:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nehemiah 9:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “You saw how our grandfathers suffered in Egypt and you saw them crying at the side of the Red Sea.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘You (sing.) have-seen the suffering of our (excl.) ancestors in Egipto. You (sing.) have-heard their asking for help from you (sing.) when they were there in the Red Sea.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘You (sing.) saw the hardship of our (excl.) ancestors in Egipto and you (sing.) heard their pleading to request your (sing.) help when they were at the Ocean Reddish.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • English: “‘You saw what our ancestors were suffering in Egypt. You heard them cry to you for help when they were at the Red Sea.” (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.

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

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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 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, kik-are-ru (聞かれる) or “hear” is used.

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

sea / lake

The various Greek, Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 9:9

The next section of the prayer (verses 9-11) describes how God delivered the people of Israel in the exodus from Egypt. The threat to their survival in Egypt did not stop God’s plan to fulfill his promise to give them land.

Thou didst see … and hear …: In a parallel construction, the prayer recalls that God saw their plight in Egypt and he heard their cries of desperation at the Red Sea crossing (see Exo 2.23-25; 14.10, 15).

Affliction refers to the wretched conditions or the “misery” (New English Bible) of the Israelites while they were living in slavery in Egypt. God not only saw their sorry state, but he recognized and understood how much they were suffering. For the first line, translators may say “God saw how much people were making our ancestors suffer while they were living in Egypt.”

Their cry refers to the Israelite cries of desperation at the Red Sea as they saw Pharaoh’s army approaching behind them. The meaning of cry here is not weeping as in sorrow, nor is it a “call” as when a person calls someone. Its meaning here is to make pleas about one’s condition or to ask for help, either aloud or silently. For the last line, Parole de Vie says “You heard them cry for help….”

Red Sea in Hebrew is literally “reed sea.” Many scholars think that this refers to the marsh area between the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea. Like Revised Standard Version, many versions follow the Septuagint and the Greek of the New Testament and refer to this body of water as the Red Sea. Others like New Jerusalem Bible call it the “Sea of Reeds,” or this name may be put in a footnote as New English Bible has done. A “sea” is a very large body of water that may be described as a “great lake.” Translators should used the same term here as in Exo 13.18. An explanation of the Red Sea or the “Sea of Reeds” may be included in the glossary.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .