Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 89:43:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“You have unsharpened his sword,
you did not help him in war.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“Furthermore, You have removed the blade of his sword,
and You have not helped him in war.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“You (sing.) made his weapons-of-war useless/[lit. has-no value]
and you (sing.) caused- him -to-be-defeated in battle/war.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“You made his sword not to work,
and you made him to be defeated in war.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Upanga wake umeufanya kuwa butu,
tena hujamsaidia katika vita.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“You have caused his sword to become useless, and you have not helped him in his battles.” (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 rare (られ) 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, tatenaiyō ni shiteo-rare-ru (立てないようにしておられる) or “preventing them from standing” is used.
Instead of fighting on behalf of his servant, the king of Israel, Yahweh took the side of his enemies; he made them victorious (literally “lifted high the right hand”) and made them all rejoice.
In verse 43a the Hebrew text is “you turned back the rock of his sword.” Most commentators associate “rock” here with flint (stone) knives (see Exo 4.25; Josh 5.2, 3) and translate the phrase “the blade of his sword” (so New Jerusalem Bible) or the edge of his sword (so An American Translation, Revised Standard Version); New English Bible, New American Bible have “his sharp sword.” Bible de Jérusalem and New Jerusalem Bible emend the text to get “you have snapped off his sword on a rock”; this emendation, however, is not necessary. The figure is that of God himself foiling the king’s attack and allowing the enemy to defeat him. Good News Translation has shifted to the generic “weapons.” In those languages which have no generic term such as weapons, it will be necessary to shift to a descriptive clause and say, for example, “You have taken away from him the things he uses in fighting” or “You have ruined for him the things he uses in fighting.”
Line b means “you have not given him victory in battle” or “you have not supported him in battle” (Bible en français courant, New International Version).
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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