addressing God

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 Translator 2002, 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.

See also female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Translation commentary on Wisdom 16:16

For the ungodly, refusing to know thee, were scourged by the strength of thy arm: The connector for may be omitted. The ungodly are the Egyptians. Good News Translation uses an effective, but idiomatic, way of introducing this: “Look at those ungodly people: they….” Refusing to know thee can be interpreted as an adverbial clause (“the ungodly, because they refused to know you”) or a relative clause (“the ungodly who refused to know you”). To know thee means, as Good News Translation has it, “to recognize you as God.” Thy arm, like “thy hand” mentioned in the previous verse, represents God’s “power” (Good News Translation). For these two lines we might suggest “The ungodly [or, Those evil people] refused to admit that you are God. So you punished them with your great power” or “You used your great power to punish the ungodly [or, those evil people], who refused to admit that you are God.”

Pursued by unusual rains and hail and relentless storms, and utterly consumed by fire: This refers to the plague of the hailstorm in Exo 9.18-26. The fire mentioned there (Exo 9.23-24) and in this account was of course lightning. Translators should use whatever word or phrase that is suitable in their language to describe lightning. In many languages “fire” will be appropriate here. Compare Psa 78.47-49; 105.32. For hail refer to 5.22. For these two lines we may translate “They could not escape from the torrential rain, the unending hailstorms, and were completely destroyed by the fires.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.