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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 rare (られ) 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, tomo ni o-rare-ru (ともにおられる) or “together with” is used.
In this verse the psalmist switches from the third person (The LORD is) to the second person of direct address (thou art with me). Translations may follow the Hebrew, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done; or else, like Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, they may cast all the psalm in the second person, beginning with verse 1, “You, LORD, are my shepherd….”
The valley of the shadow of death: the Hebrew word translated valley is translated in the Septuagint by “the midst” (so Anchor Bible, “in the midst of total darkness”). And the word traditionally translated the shadow of death elsewhere means simply darkness (see 44.19; 107.10; Job 3.5; 10.22; 12.22; 16.16; Isa 9.2). As it appears here in the Masoretic text, however, the word may be taken as a compound, meaning “darkness of death” (so the Septuagint). Most modern translations avoid the word “death”: Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “dark valley”; Weiser “the valley of deep darkness”; Bible en français courant “the dark valley”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “the darkest of all valleys.” “A dark ravine” (with footnote) is another suggestion. But New English Bible has “a valley dark as death,” New Jerusalem Bible “a ravine as dark as death,” and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible “a ravine of shadow and death.” The word itself does not necessarily mean death; but by definition a dark ravine is a dangerous place. For a discussion of this and other matters in this psalm, see John Eaton, The Bible Translator 16:171-176.
If the translator follows the exegetical suggestion “darkness of death,” it will sometimes be necessary to say, for example, “if I go through the darkness that is like death” or “if I go through darkness where there is no life.”
The word translated evil means here danger, harm, injury.
The rod was a club used to drive away wild animals; the staff was a long stick used for support in walking. Kirkpatrick takes the two words to be a poetic description of the shepherd’s crook, using two names for the one instrument. So Bible en français courant “your shepherd’s rod, that is what reassures me.” Most translations, however, have two different words. Good News Translation has used the traditional “rod and staff”; but since there will be many readers who will not know what these are, Good News Translation qualifies them with “Your shepherd’s rod and staff.”
They comfort me: the verb “to comfort” means here to provide assurance, security, safety. New American Bible has “give me courage”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant “reassure me”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “fill me with confidence.”
The expression thy rod and thy staff they comfort me may require in some languages more adjustments than have been made in Good News Translation. In some areas there is nothing known as a special instrument for herding animals. In some cases it will be necessary to indicate that these instruments are not simply possessed but are carried by the shepherd; for example, “the rod and staff which you carry.” In some areas these will simply be known as “the club and the cane” or “the stick.” In some languages it may be better to express the meaning in nonfigurative language: “You protect me and keep me safe,” “You protect me from all harm and danger.”
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 .
John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)
John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)
“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”
“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’
“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.
“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.
“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”
A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”
The translation of Psalm 23 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter and the rhyme scheme is -ou (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):
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