Do original languages in Greek and Hebrew Bible texts use formal or informal language where traditional translations in English used Thee and Thou? [closed]

Question

After reading various comments re: use of Thee and Thou vis-a-vis accuracy of translations to modern (not Elizabethan) English, all very informative, I am still wondering if the original texts of Hebrew and Greek Bible used a distinctly different grammar when addressing the Deity. Or conversely, was the same language used, with perhaps reverence displayed in the context?

Answer 1

The original languages had only one set of pronouns. There was no distinction at all between formal and informal forms of address--they did not exist. There was not even a difference in alphabetic case (uppercase/lowercase) in either Hebrew or Biblical Greek. There is no special manner of address for speaking to God in either Hebrew or Greek, with the possible exception of certain verbs in the imperative (command) form--as one does not command God to do anything.

(As it happens, the jussive and cohortative verbs, i.e. imperative verbs, in Hebrew, when used for God, may be of the same form as for others but are understood to carry a different sense of meaning. It gets complicated, and some might say it is somewhat subjective in terms of interpretation.)

With respect to the English translation of "thee" and "thou," these forms were the informal forms in the English of the time. Everything shifted, over time, to the use of the formal "you," at the cost of less clarity, since "you" applies both to singular and to plural forms of the second person.

Perhaps a table will make it more clear (focusing only on the grammatical "second person").

	Subject Pronoun	Object Pronoun	Possessive Adjective	Possessive Object	Present-Tense Verb Ending
Informal Singular	thou	thee	thy	thine	-est (e.g. "sayest")
Informal Plural	ye	you	your	yours	none
Formal Singular	you	you	your	yours	none
Formal Plural	you	you	your	yours	none

In the KJV, these forms are preserved, and we see that the disciples and Jesus addressed each other using informal pronouns (in the English translation--Greek does not have them). In modern languages with two forms, most are comfortable addressing those close to them using the informal pronouns. For example, in Spain, people often use the informal for "you" (tú) to address God. When doing so, they are addressing Him as a close, familiar friend. This same culture likely was prevalent in the English society at the time the KJV was translated.

Conclusion

Because neither Hebrew nor Greek has a distinction between formal and informal forms of address, this phenomenon came into being only post-translation.