complete verse (Psalm 40:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 40:9:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “I am preaching the message of your righteousness in the great assembly;
    I do not close my lips
    as you know You Jehovah.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “O LORD, I have proclaimed to everyone in the great council
    that You are the one who saves us.
    You certainly know that I will never refrain from proclaiming this.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “I tell-(about) your (sing.) saving me in the gathering of your (sing.) people.
    You (sing.) know, LORD, that I do- not -stop telling this.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Eastern Bru:
    “You already know that before the eyes of all the people who gather to worship you I have already told of God’s saving us. About those things I don’t close my mouth.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “I tell your goodness in a large crowd,
    I do not shut my mouth,
    LORD, as you also know.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Nimetangaza matendo yako ya wokovu,
    katika mkutano wa watu wengi.
    Ee Bwana, unajua,
    sinyamazi kuhubiri.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Whenever all your people are gathered,
    I have told them about how you save us.
    Yahweh, you know that I have not been afraid to tell that to them.” (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.

know (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 or a person or persons to be greatly honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-zonji (ご存じ), a combination of “know” (zonji) and the honorific prefix go-.

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

Japanese benefactives (goran)

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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, goran (ご覧) or “see/behold/look” (itself a combination of “behold/see” [ran] and the honorific prefix go- — see behold / look / see (Japanese honorifics)) 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).”

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

Translation commentary on Psalm 40:9 - 40:10

In these two verses the various attributes of Yahweh are praised (see similar lists in 33.4-5; 35.5-6, and the comments there): deliverance (tsedeq; see comments on “right” in 4.1); saving help (tsedaqah; see comments on “righteousness” in 5.8); faithfulness (ʾemunah; see 36.5); salvation (teshuʿah; see related noun “deliverance” in 3.8, and the related verb “help” in 12.1); steadfast love (chesed; see comments on 5.7); and faithfulness or “truth” (ʾemeth; see comment on “truth” in 15.2). These are not mutually exclusive qualities; their meanings overlap, and they are all expressive of Yahweh’s constant commitment to the covenant he made with his people always to love, bless, and protect them.

The great congregation (verses 9b, 10d) is the people of Israel assembled for worship in the Temple (see 22.25; 35.18). The great congregation may sometimes be rendered “your people who meet to worship you” or “the great meeting of your people in worship.”

In various ways the psalmist declares his firm resolve ever to proclaim Yahweh’s saving help. I have told (verse 9a); I have not restrained my lips (verse 9c); I have not hid … within my heart (verse 10a), meaning “I have not kept it a secret”; I have spoken (verse 10b); I have not concealed (verse 10c). Many languages will express verse 10a in a form more closely parallel to the Hebrew than to the Good News Translation; for example, “I have not kept silently in my heart that you save your people.” Thy faithfulness and thy salvation must often be rendered as verb phrases; for example, “I have always told people how you are faithful to your people and how you help them.” In the same way thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness must often be recast in some such ways as “how you are always loyal to your people and how you always love them faithfully.”

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 .