Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 87:7:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“The singers and dancers too will say,
‘All my springs are in you.’” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“They will dance and sing songs,
"The source of all our blessings is in Zion."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“All of them will-dance and will-sing, ‘All our (incl.) blessings come-from Zion!’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“As people blow flutes, and sing by saying,
‘All blessing comes from Zion."” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Watakuja kucheza na kuimba, watakuja kusema,
‘Chemchemi ya baraka zetu zinatoka katika Sayuni.’” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“They will all dance and sing, saying, ‘Jerusalem is the source of all our blessings.’” (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.
In this verse the Hebrew is simply “And singers like dancers all my springs in you.” It is assumed that the words “all my springs (are) in you” represent what “singers and dancers” say. But some Hebrew manuscripts have “princes” instead of “singers” (so Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible). And the Hebrew word translated “(like) dancers” is taken by Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible to be from another root, “to beget”; so New Jerusalem Bible translates, “princes no less than native-born.”
Springs is used figuratively as a source; so Good News Translation “the source of all our blessings”; or else “Zion is the source of all our blessedness.” Toombs refers to 46.4, which speaks of the river “that brings joy to the city of God” (see also 36.8, 9).7 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives the following translation of this verse: “and singing as well as dancing (they say) ‘all my springs (are) in you.’ ” In this context, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says, “springs” refers to origin.
Instead of my springs the Septuagint and Vulgate have “dwelling place,” which Biblia Dios Habla Hoy and New American Bible adopt: “My home is in you” (so Briggs). Actually the Septuagint is “and they all rejoice (whose) dwelling (is) in you.” New English Bible emends the Hebrew “all my springs” to “they all chant”; Dahood emends to “all who have suffered.”
The least that can be said is that verse 7 in the Masoretic text is difficult and obscure, and that it takes a bit of good will to make sense of it without any changes in the Hebrew text. If the translator follows the lead of Good News Translation, “source of all our blessings” will have to be recast in some languages to say, for example, “Zion is the place from which we receive all good things” or “We get all the good things from Zion.” Probably the best model to follow is Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “All dance for joy and sing, ‘Zion, in you we are at home!’ ”
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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