complete verse (Psalm 60:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 60:2:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “You have shaken the world and you have torn it,
    fix its cracks for they are shaking a lot.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “You have shaken our earth,
    Our earth has been split.
    Now fill them in [seal the cracks],
    For now it is also trembling.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “You (sing.) have-shaken and caused-to-crack/split-open the land/fields of Israel,
    but now I am-pleading to you (sing.) to mend/[lit. heal] this for this/it is-about-to fall-down.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “You made the world to tremble you crack it to be wide.
    Please you heal its wounds because it trembles.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Umeifanya nchi kutetemeka, umeipasua.
    Basi sasa uitengeneze, kwa maana inatikisika.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “When we were defeated, it was as though there was a big earthquake in our land that caused the ground to split open.
    So now, just as only you can cause the cracks in the land to disappear,
    help our army to be strong again,
    because it is as though our country is
    falling apart/being destroyed.” (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.

Japanese benefactives (iyashite)

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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, iyashite (癒やして) or “heal” 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. )

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“tear”)

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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 are (され) 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, sak-are-ru (裂かれる) or “tear” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Psalm 60:1 - 60:2

The psalm begins with a bitter cry of complaint to God for having abandoned his people (see similar language in 44.9-12).

The verb translated broken our defenses is taken to mean to break through (enemy lines), to make a breach. So Bible en français courant translates “You have broken through our ranks,” and New Jerusalem Bible “you have made a breach in us.” But many translations, like Good News Translation, use less specific expressions: “broken us,” “displaced us.”

In verse 1b the verbal form translated restore us (Good News Translation “turn back to us”) may possibly be read as a statement, “you have turned away from us” (so, with variations, Briggs, Dahood, Weiser, An American Translation, New English Bible, Good News Translation footnote); Anderson is of the opinion that this is not very likely. It is better to translate as a petition.

God’s actions are compared to those resulting from an earthquake, in which the land (Israel, that is) trembles and splits open (verse 2a), and God is requested to repair the breaks, for which Good News Translation has “heal its wounds.” The country “is falling apart” (New Jerusalem Bible “collapsing”), literally “is shaking, tottering”–see the verb used of mountains in 46.3, where it is translated “tremble.” In verse 2b the verb translated “heal” (Good News Translation) is not in its normal form, but many take it to be a variant of the verb “to heal.” Revised Standard Version repair its breaches keeps the vivid metaphor of an earthquake; so New Jerusalem Bible “mend the rifts,” and New Jerusalem Bible “mend its fissures.” The translator must decide whether this will be appropriate and understandable in the receptor language. New English Bible, however, takes the verb in the sense it normally has of “sink down,” and translates “it gives way” (similarly Briggs, Dahood). In many languages it is not possible to speak of healing the wounds of the land. Therefore it may be necessary to say, for example, “make the land strong again,” “close the holes in the earth,” or “repair the ground that is cut open.”

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 .