complete verse (Psalm 52:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 52:4:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “You love all the hurtful words,
    you deceitful tongue!” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “O dishonest tongue,
    You love all destructive words.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “You (plur.) deceitful ones, you (plur.) like/desire to-hurt others through your (plur.) words.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “You love all matters which spoil people,
    you who talk lies!” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Unayapenda yote ambayo yanawaumiza watu,
    wewe ambaye wa ulimi wa udanganyifu.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “You who say things to deceive people, you like to say things that hurt people/cruel things!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Psalm 52:4

The verb devour translates a noun that may mean literally either “(words of) destruction, ruin,” or “(words of) confusion,” depending on which meaning is assigned to the Hebrew root (see K-B, Holladay); most prefer to take it in the former sense.

It is to be noticed that the meaning of O deceitful tongue is expressed in Good News Translation by “you liar”; New English Bible takes it not as a vocative, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation do, but as another subject of the verb You love, that is, “slanderous talk”; also New Jerusalem Bible “treacherous speech.” If the translator takes O deceitful tongue as a vocative, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, it may be necessary to translate this synecdoche (“part for the whole” expression) as “you deceitful person” or “you who deceive people.”

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 .