The Greek and Hebrew phrases that are often translated as “birds of the air” in English “refer to the undomesticated song birds or wild birds, to be distinguished in a number of languages from domesticated fowl. In Tzeltal these former are ‘field birds’.” (source: Bratcher / Nida)
Q’anjob’al also uses an established term for non-domesticated birds. Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “Qʼanjobʼal has two distinct terms, one to identify domesticated birds and the other non-domesticated birds. The additional descriptive phrase ‘of the air’ seemed entirely misleading, for Qʼanjobʼal speakers had never heard of such creatures. Actually, of course, all that was necessary was the term for non-domesticated birds, for that is precisely the meaning of the Biblical expression.”
In Elhomwe they are just translated as “birds” or “birds of the bush” (i.e., wild birds) to “not give the impression that these are special type of birds.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “wild animal” or similar is translated in Newari as “animal that lives in the jungle.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 79:2:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“They gave the corpses of your servants
to the birds of the sky as food,
the bodies of your saints to the beasts of the earth.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“They have left the bodies of your people for the vultures to eat.
They have left the corpses of your servants for the wild animals to eat.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“They fed the dead-body/corpses of your (sing.) faithful servants to the birds and cruel animals.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“They left the bodies of your people,
for the vultures to eat them,
and wild animals ate your holy people.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Wamezitupa maiti za watumishi wako,
ili wale ndege wa katika anga,
miili ya watakatifu wako kuwa chakula cha fisi.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Instead of burying the corpses of your people whom they killed,
they allowed vultures and wild animals to eat the flesh of those corpses,” (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.
The psalmist describes the destruction wrought by the invading enemy. For the heathen see comments on 2.1, where the same Hebrew word is rendered “the nations.” In this verse heathen refers to foreigners, invaders, and in some languages a term such as “foreign enemies,” “other tribes,” or “strangers” may be used. “Invaded your land” may sometimes have to be recast to say “have attacked us to take away your land” or “have come to take away the land you gave us.” For inheritance see 16.6; however, here it is the property of God, not of the people, and so Good News Translation has “your land.”
Line b of verse 1 has the same meaning as 74.7b; defiled translates a different verb, but the meaning is the same. We can only speculate about the specific things the enemy did to make the Temple unfit for worship to Yahweh. But if the whole city was in ruins, the Temple could hardly have escaped destruction. Defiled in the sense of making taboo or unfit for worship may be rendered “they have made your holy Temple unclean so that people cannot worship you.” If the sense of such a translation refers to physical uncleanliness, then it is better to say “they have destroyed your holy Temple.” For translation suggestions on “holy” related to the Temple, see comments on “holy sanctuary” in 28.2.
The corpses of the dead Israelites had been left unburied, which was a final indignity and disgrace (see Eccl 6.3; Jer 14.16; Tobit 1.17-18). In verse 2 thy servants and thy saints are synonymous; they refer to the people of Israel in general, not to any specific group. For thy saints see comments on the same term translated “the godly” in 4.3. Good News Translation has “your people” first, in order to help the reader understand that “your servants” in the next line means the same thing. If the translator finds it difficult to avoid servants and saints being understood as two different groups, it may be necessary to reduce them to one and say, for example, “They left the bodies of your people for the vultures and the wild animals to eat” (see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).
The birds of the air in verse 2a are birds of carrion, such as “vultures.” Of the air and of the earth are set expressions used many times in the Old Testament. These qualifiers do not specify the kinds of birds or animals, but the context makes clear that they refer to “vultures” and “wild animals.”
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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