Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 71:24:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“My tongue will explain of your works of righteousness
all day,
for those who wanted to hurt me
have been humiliated and confused.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Every day I will tell everyone
about Your good works,
and how You shamed
all who tried to kill me,
and [how]they were dishonored.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“I will- always -tell-about your (sing.) righteousness,
for those (who) want to-harm me have-been-put-to-shame and put-into-confusion/panic.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“I will talk about your goodness
all day long,
because of people who wanted to mistreat me,
shame caught them, and they were confused.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Nitausema unyofu wako siku zote,
kwa maana ambao walitaka kuniumiza,
wamefedheheshwa, wameaibishwa.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“All day long I will tell people that you act righteously,
because those who wanted to harm me will have been defeated and disgraced.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “upright(ness)” and “just(ice)”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)
Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:
Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
(San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
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.
The psalmist concludes with a promise always to praise God for his faithfulness (verse 22) and to proclaim his righteous help (verse 24). For the two instruments named in verse 22 (nebel and kinnor), see discussion in 33.2. Praise thee with the harp for thy faithfulness represents a complex of three events: the psalmist praising God, someone playing the harp, and God being faithful to his people. In translation these three elements may be restructured to say, for instance, “God is faithful to his people, and so I will sing with the harp to praise him.”
In verse 22c sing praises (Good News Translation “play hymns”) translates the same verb used in verse 23b; the verb (zamar) is used of singing praises accompanied by instrumental music (see comment at 7.17).
The Holy One of Israel is a title for God used frequently in Isaiah, but only twice again in the Book of Psalms (78.41; 89.18). It not only emphasizes the character of God as holy, but also that God brought Israel into an exclusive dedication to himself as his own people; in this sense they are also a “holy” people, who serve and worship Yahweh alone. Holy One of Israel must often be recast as “The God who is holy and whom Israel worships.”
Revised Standard VersionMy lips stands for the entire person, not just the mouth; and so Good News Translation “I.” My soul (Good News Translation “my whole being”) translates “my nefesh” (see 3.2).
In verse 23c “because” translates at term that is normally the relative pronoun which (so Revised Standard Version and others); but it is also used as a conjunction, giving the cause of an action, and that is how Good News Translation and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible interpret it here.
Righteous help in verse 24a translates tsedaqah (see 5.8); New Jerusalem Bible, as usual, translates “saving justice,” and Bible en français courant, as usual, “faithfulness.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy has “that you are righteous.”
For verse 24c see similar language in 35.26; and for who sought to do me hurt in verse 24d see the same clause in verse 13, which is identical in the Hebrew.
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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