female 2nd person singular pronoun in Psalms

In Garifuna the second person singular pronoun (“you” in English) has two forms. One is used in women’s speech and one in men’s speech. In the Garifuna Bible the form used in men’s speech is typically used, except when it’s clear that a woman is quoted or in Psalms where the women on the translation team insisted that the form used in women’s speech (buguya) would be used throughout the whole book.

Ronald Ross (in Omanson 2001, p. 375f.) tells the story: “Throughout most of the translation, [the distinctions between the different forms of the pronouns] presented no problem. Whenever the speaker in the text was perceived as a man, the male speech forms were used; and when a woman was speaking, the female speech forms were used. True, the women members of the translation team did object on occasion to the use of the male forms when the author (and narrator) of a book was unknown and the men translators had used the male speech forms as the default. Serious discord arose, however, during the translation of the Psalms because of their highly devotional nature and because throughout the book the psalmist is addressing God. The male translators had, predictably, used the male form to address God, and the male form to refer to the psalmist, even though women speakers of Garifuna never use those forms to address anyone. The women contended that they could not as women read the Psalms meaningfully if God and the psalmist were always addressed as if the readers were men. The men, of course, turned the argument around, claiming that neither could they read the Psalms comfortably if the reader was assumed to be a woman.

“Initially there seemed to be no way out of this impasse. However a solution was found in the ongoing evolution of the language. There is a strong propensity for male speech and female speech to merge in favor of the latter, so the few remaining male forms are gradually dying out. Moreover, male children learn female speech from their mothers and only shift to the male speech forms when they reach adolescence to avoid sounding effeminate. However they use the female form buguya when addressing their parents throughout life. So the women wielded two arguments: First, the general development of the language favored the increasing use of the female forms. Secondly, the female forms are less strange to the men than the male forms are to the women, because the men habitually use them during early childhood and continue to use them to address their parents even in adulthood. Therefore, the female pronominal forms prevailed and were adopted throughout the book of Psalms, though the male forms remained the default forms in the rest of the translation.”

See also female first person singular pronoun in Psalms and addressing God.

complete verse (Psalm 104:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 104:13:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “He waters the mountains from his upper rooms;
    the earth is satisfied with the fruit of his work.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “You send rain on the hills from the heavens
    and the earth will be filled by Your blessings.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “From your (sing.) dwelling-place in heaven, you (sing.) rain upon the mountains.
    And because of what you (sing.) do, the earth receives blessing.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “He send water from heaven to reach mountains,
    the earth is satisfied with the fruit of his works.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Kutoka makao yako mbinguni,
    unainyeshea milima mvua,
    nchi inashiba matunda ambayo unayaumba.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “From your home in heaven/the sky you send rain down on the mountains,
    and you fill the earth with many good things that you create.” (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.

work(s) (of God) (Japanese honorifics)

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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-ude (みわざ) or “work (of God)” in the referenced verses.

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

Translation commentary on Psalm 104:13 - 104:15

Revised Standard Version joins verse 13 to the preceding strophe, as seen in the paragraphing; most translations, like Good News Translation, join it to what follows.

Yahweh provides food for animals and human beings by sending rain from the sky (literally “his upper chambers,” as in verse 3), which waters the ground so that the soil brings forth abundant crops. Verse 13b is not very clear; the Hebrew seems to say “the earth is satisfied (or, filled) from the fruit (or, result) of your deeds.” This seems to mean that, as a result of what Yahweh does, the earth is completely filled with good things, or else the earth is completely satisfied. There are various conjectures; many believe the phrase the fruit of thy work refers specifically to the rain itself (Briggs, Oesterley, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); Kirkpatrick has “fruit produced by God’s manifold operations” (also Cohen); New English Bible has “the earth is enriched by thy provisions”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “with the streams of heaven you satisfy the earth.”

Verses 14-15 list the crops of the fields and how they benefit humankind. Verse 14b in Hebrew seems to be “and plants (or, vegetation) for the service of man,” which Revised Standard Version takes to mean and plants for man to cultivate. Good News Translation has “plants for man to use,” that is, with reference to the items listed in verse 15, the basic foods needed to sustain him (so Anderson, “plants for the sustenance of man”). New American Bible has “and vegetation for men’s use.” New English Bible has “for those who toil for man” (a reference to work animals), which involves assigning other vowels to the Hebrew consonants (see also Revised Standard Version footnote). Perhaps the best way to translate is to imitate Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy: “You make the grass grow for the cattle, and the plants that people cultivate.” So line c can follow: “In this way they can get their food from the earth.”

Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation employ ellipsis in verse 14b. In some languages it will be necessary to say in 14b, for example, “you cause plants to grow for people….”

Verse 15 lists the basic crops which are cultivated; they include grapevines (wine), olive trees (oil), and wheat or barley (bread). The wine makes a person happy, and the olive oil makes a person’s face shine (verse 15a-b). The latter may be meant quite literally (so Cohen, Briggs, Toombs), since olive oil was applied to the face and the head to cleanse the skin and restore the scalp. Good News Translation takes it in a figurative sense, “to make him cheerful” (see comments at 92.10). Dahood takes it to mean “glowing health.” Perhaps it is best to take it literally; so Bible en français courant “a good appearance,” and New Jerusalem Bible “to make their faces glow” (see also New International Version). The last item is bread (or better, perhaps, “food”; so Dahood), which sustains a person’s strength (see the same verb in 41.3a; 94.18b; so New English Bible, Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). New Jerusalem Bible has “that sustains man’s life.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .