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 16:25

Therefore at that time also, changed into all forms, it served thy all-nourishing bounty: The subject is still creation. The author is expressing himself in terms of Greek ideas concerning physical nature, that there was one primeval substance, out of which all the elements of the natural world were formed. The translator cannot be expected to convey all this to the reader, but Good News Translation “Creation assumed all kinds of forms” comes very close to what the author intends, and does so rather simply. It served thy all-nourishing bounty may be rendered “to show how you provide generously” (Good News Translation). The words “show how you” in Good News Translation are unnecessary and better left out, so these lines are better rendered “… all kinds of forms to provide generously….” Contemporary English Version is also helpful with “And so on that occasion, the forces of the universe changed the way they work, in order to serve your purpose.”

According to the desire of those who had need: As the footnotes in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicate, there is an ambiguity in the Greek here. Those who had need can also be translated “those who prayed [or, asked].” This is the translator’s choice, but the Handbook prefers the choice of Good News Translation: “all who pray to you.” Good News Translation omits desire as clearly included within the idea of praying, but for this line translators could say “by answering the prayers of all who pray to you.”

An alternative model for this verse is:

• And so on that occasion the things you made took on all kinds of forms to provide generously by answering the prayers of all who prayed to you.

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.