Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 28:2:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“Hear my requesting for mercy
when I am calling on You to help me,
when I lifting my hands
pointing to your most holy place.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“When I pray for help
and when I lift [my] hands toward your holy place,
listen to my prayer.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“Listen to my pleading asking for help from you (sing.),
while I am-facing to your (sing.) holy temple [Linker] lifting-up my hands.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Eastern Bru:
“Request you listen when I call out asking for your help. Surely I lift my hands toward your big worshiping house when I pray like that.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Laarim:
“Hear my cry for mercy,
as I am calling you to come and help me,
as I lift up my hands
to your Place which is Most Holy Much.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Usikie sauti yangu, unihurumie,
wakati naomba kwako ili uniokoe.
Ninakuomba unisaidie,
nainua mikono yangu kwa hekalu lako takatifu.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Listen to me when I call out for you to help me, when I pray, lifting up my hands as I face your sacred temple.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “sanctuary” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with opatulika or “separated place.” This is understood in a religious setup as a place designated for worship. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. Here, kīte (聞いて) or “listen” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).”
In his opening plea to the LORD (verses 1-2) the psalmist addresses him as my rock (see 18.2 and comments), which is a figure for “my defender” or “my refuge.” The expression my rock should only be kept if the symbolism intended is sufficiently meaningful. However, in no case does the rock belong to the psalmist; rather, he is the goal of the activity of the LORD’s defense. Therefore it will often be necessary to say “O LORD, you who defend me” or “O LORD, you who protect me from my enemies.”
In lines b and c of verse 1, two different verbs are used, be … deaf and be silent. In this context they mean not to listen to the psalmist and not to answer his cry for help.
Lest with the subjunctive (I become) is not a common expression in English. The meaning is more naturally expressed by “For, if you remain silent, I will be like…” (New International Version).
In verse 1 the word Pit is used as a synonym for Sheol, the world of the dead (also in 30.3; 88.4, 6; 143.7). The psalmist is saying that if the LORD does not answer him, he will be like those who are dying or are already dead, for he will go down to Sheol–he will die. The Pit may be meaningless as a place for the dead in some languages, and “the world of the dead” may be too vague to carry the meaning of dying. Therefore it will sometimes be necessary to say simply “I will die.”
In verse 2 line b is attached to line a and is incomplete without reference to line a. The same is true of the following two lines in Revised Standard Version. There is no heightening or other movement between the lines, nor is there static parallelism. Since lines b, c, and d merely stand in a dependency relation to line a, it is possible to show this dependency in other ways. Good News Translation has created two lines from the four in Revised Standard Version by equating voice of my supplication with I cry … for help, and expressed the other two dependent lines as “when I life my hands….” The result is a clearer two-line parallelism. Translators may follow this model or keep the longer lines as attached lines.
For supplication see comments on 6.9; the expression voice of my supplication means “loud plea, cry for help” (also in verse 6a). New International Version has “cry for mercy.”
The figure I lift up my hands in verse 2 is the attitude of prayer and petition; thy most holy sanctuary translates the word for the Most Holy Place, the innermost sanctuary of the Temple (see Revised Standard Version footnote), where the Covenant Box was kept.
The expression I lift up my hands toward thy most holy sanctuary presents the translator with several problems. Since the lifting up of hands may not carry the meaning of praying, it will often be necessary to make the meaning explicit; for example, “I lift up my hands in prayer.”
The second problem concerns the word toward. The focus of toward is to indicate that the one praying is facing the Temple. In some languages it may be difficult to understand how lifting the hands up will also point them in the direction of the Temple. To make this matter of two directions clearer, it will often be necessary to say, for example, “I face your holy Temple and lift up my hands to pray” or “I turn looking at your holy Temple and raise my hands to pray.”
Holy sanctuary may be looked at as two related but separate translation problems. Holy is associated in the Scriptures with the Spirit of God, with certain kinds of people such as holy prophets, and with various material objects such as priestly clothing, ark, and Temple. In connection with people the term “holy” indicates their relationship to God. Holy objects on the other hand normally involve some ceremonial aspect of relationship to God which can be designated as “dedicated.” In many languages “holy” may be spoken of as “dedicated to worship” or “belonging to God for worship.”
The term sanctuary or “Temple” is translated in some languages as “God’s big prayer house” or “God’s big singing house.” The full expression may then sometimes be rendered “the great prayer house which is dedicated to you” or “the big God-house where people worship you.”
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 28 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter and the rhyme schemes are -ong and -i (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):
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