Passivization Transformation in the New Gun Bible Translation: The Translation of “It was allowed” in Rev 13.5, 7, 14

Abstract

In the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, various kinds of passive forms are used in sentence constructions. Some have both the patients and the agents clearly specified; others have only patients. Frequently, the agent is implied, ambiguous, or even unknown. The Gun language (a language of Benin) does not have forms for passive construction; only active forms are used. In Rev 13.5, 7, 14 the unspecified agent has been identified in the 2003 Gun New Testament as the “dragon.” This paper argues that the identification of the agent should be revisited before the publication of the whole Bible. It discusses various ways passive constructions can be dealt with in translation. Contrary to the choice of identified agent in the 2003 Gun New Testament, this article supports an alternative position, one which was adopted in the 1923 Gun Bible: that is, to use an ambiguous agent in the form of the impersonal pronoun ye, translated as “one,” “someone,” “it,” “they,” and so forth.