Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 88:16:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“Your wrath has drowned me;
your dangers have destroyed me.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Your terrifying anger has covered me,
I am about to be destroyed by Your punishment.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“Your (sing.) anger like a strong wind that hits me.
You (sing.) destroy me by your (sing.) fearful-(acts) (you) do to me,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“Your anger swallowed me,
your fear spoiled me.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Kuchukia kwako kumenizamisha chini, kama vile mafuriko,
ya kutiisha ambayo unanitendea, yananiangamiza.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“I feel that you have crushed me because of your being angry with me;
the terrible things that you are doing to me are almost destroying me.” (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 verse 15a the psalmist alludes to his life-long illness, which we cannot identify with certainty; he sees it as coming from God (verse 15b). Thy terrors means the terrifying things Yahweh has done; Bible en français courant “the terror that you impose on me”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I have endured terrible things you have done to me.” Good News Translation “your punishments” may imply that these things happen as a result of sin, but that idea does not occur in the Hebrew of this psalm. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “terrible things” is better. I am helpless translates a word found only here in the Old Testament and whose meaning is uncertain; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “I can’t take it any more!”; New Jerusalem Bible “I am finished”; New International Version “and am in despair.” New Jerusalem Bible, following the Jewish commentator Saadia, translates “wherever I turn.”
The psalmist feels crushed and destroyed (literally “silenced”; so Weiser) by the blows which God, in his anger, rains down on him (verse 16). In line aswept over translates a verb meaning to assail or overwhelm, like a strong wind that blows everything down (see its use in 103.16a). There is no escaping from God’s attacks (verse 17; see similar language in verse 7). They are like enemies all around him who are moving in to kill him.
Verse 18a repeats the thought of verse 8a; although Revised Standard Version (also New English Bible) lover is a possible translation of the Hebrew word, it is not suitable in the context. It may be that the psalmist was referring to his wife; it is certain he would not have meant “lover” in the common meaning of the word today. New International Version has “my companions and loved ones”; Bible en français courant “all my friends”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and New Jerusalem Bible “friend and neighbor”; and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “friends and companions.”
The last line in Hebrew is “my acquaintances darkness,” which Good News Translation and others understand to mean “and darkness is my only companion” (Dahood, Weiser, Cohen, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy; Dahood takes “Darkness” as a name for Sheol). It does not seem probable that the Hebrew means, as An American Translation and Revised Standard Version have, my companions are in darkness. For languages in which an abstract such as darkness could not naturally be said to be a companion, it is possible to recast this figurative expression to say something like “every place I go there is only darkness” or “wherever I am it is always dark.”
New English Bible places different vowels on the Hebrew consonants to get the meaning “and deprived me of my companions”; this is exactly parallel with line a and may be the meaning intended; but the Masoretic text does make sense, and it is to be preferred.
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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