Who was talking?
In the prophets, you’ll constantly see changing personal pronouns (I, you, he, they, etc.). It makes it very confusing to figure out exactly who’s talking!
One reason for the confusion is usually overlooked: God didn’t speak to the prophets personally. Rather, He sent His messages through a mediator, either referred to as a messenger (an angel), or sometimes as ‘The Word’ (which some interpret to mean Jesus).
So there are actually three voices speaking:
- The Prophet
- The angelic messenger who’s bringing God’s message
- The words of God Himself (which we put in italics)
How can we tell the difference? From the context, the pronouns, and the tenses:
- When the Prophet speaks, he’s either clearly reporting what he said or did, or is simply saying what was happening.
- When the angelic messenger speaks, he talks about God in the third person.
- When God is speaking, all references to God are naturally spoken in the first person.
Other translations either don’t understand this or don’t attempt to correct it. This leads to some very confusing translations.
Did we get it all right? Probably not, but it’s an honest attempt! If you think you’ve spotted a place where our choice is incorrect, please let us know and we’ll reconsider it.