Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 69:26:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“For they persecute the one whom you injured
and speak bitter (things) to those whom you hurt.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“For they relentlessly chase the ones You punish.
They talk about the trouble of the ones You injure.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“For they persecute/pursue the people that you (sing.) punish,
and they gossip-about their suffering.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“Because they disturb people who you already disciplined,
and they gossip about people who were wounded, because of your word.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Kwa maana wanawatesa ambao umewaadhibu wewe,
wanayasema mateso ya ambao umewaumiza.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Do this because they persecute those whom you have punished,
they talk about the sins of/they want to hurt even more those whom you have wounded.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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, ut-are-ru (打たれる) or “strike” is used.
In this verse the psalmist interrupts his denunciations in order to provide a justification. The Hebrew text is a bit irregular at the beginning of the verse, but there seems to be no reason to emend. In translation it will be clearer if the translator provides some kind of marker to show that the writer is offering a reason for his attacks on his enemies; for example, one might begin verse 26 with “Do all this because….”
Good News Translation “those whom you have punished” takes the Hebrew singular to be generic (so New Jerusalem Bible). The singular (so Revised Standard Version and others) can be taken to refer to the psalmist himself; but in line b the object in the Masoretic text is plural, “those you have wounded.” One Hebrew manuscript and the Targum have the singular, which Revised Standard Version prefers, in parallel with line a. The psalmist’s complaint is that his enemies, not content with the sufferings of those (or, of the one) punished by God, add to those sufferings by their hostile acts.
In verse 26b the Masoretic text is “they recount” (so Good News Translation “they talk about”); the Septuagint and Syriac have “they add to,” which is preferred by An American Translation, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New American Bible; as Anderson points out, this is a closer parallel with line a. The Masoretic text, however, does make sense and can be translated.26 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (“C” decision) stays with the Masoretic text “they gossip (about)” and comments: “This expression refers to the discussions about the sins which had caused the suffering of the psalmist, as Job’s friends presumed a sin as being the basis for his misfortune.”
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 .
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