In English, we use the word ‘you’ to refer both to a single person (‘you are wonderful’) and a group (‘you are a team’). In oral speech, listeners tend to understand the meaning of ‘you,’ but it’s not always clear when reading a text.
This is a major problem in modern Bible translations. The original languages of the BIble (Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament) have different words for you singular and you plural, and they show up in thousands of verses. This leads readers to think the ‘you’ refers to the individual reader, when in fact the original author is often addressing a group.
Examples:
“For I know the plans I have for YOU [plural], declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give YOU [plural] a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
“Do YOU [plural] not know that YOU [plural] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in YOU [plural]?” (1 Corinthians 3:15)
This plugin automatically updates verses on several popular Bible website (biblegateway.com, youversion.com, biblehub.com) any time the original languages (Greek or Hebrew) has a second person plural verb or pronoun. In the Options area, you can also select from a variety of of dialects (“You guys”, “Y’all”, “Yinz”) based on your region and preferences, as well as the option to convert the name of God (YHWH translated with small caps LORD) to “Yahweh.”
My hope is that this helps develop a more community oriented reading and hearing of Scripture and pokes some good fun at my home states of Texas.
The feature is also present on http://biblewebapp.com/app/
I have given 5 stars because i want it to work., but alas it doesnt. HELP!
it dosent open it sucks
loved it ya’ll
Yes it is a fun app, but it is really eye opening to see the difference in meaning when y’all is used versus you. Sometimes it makes a big difference!
Simply brilliant! Easy way to determine whether it’s second person singular or plural. Thanks to whoever went through and figured it all out.
Works well
This is beyond great. It’s wonderful. I was looking for an easy way to tell the difference, and even if this isn’t perfect, it is incredibly easy!
Interesting…I’m from Texas and thought this would be interesting.
They should have an option to also change “the LORD” to ADONAI or HASHEM, also “Jesus” to “Yeshua” (His Hebrew name) if the user prefers.
Shalom Y’all!
Amazing technology, hats off to the designers. For a “Fun” category app, it’s very illuminating. It’s not perfect–John 3:7 should read “YOU should not be surprised that I say ‘Y’ALL must be born again’.” I enjoy it for what it does.
@Ruter and @Makuh, menu button > Tools > Extensions. Enable or disable. Then reload the Bible webpage you were reading [reload button, or F5 key]
This is a nifty little plugin that allows me to understand the bible in a way that is totally natural for me.
I also cannot click the save button in the settings.
Also, the options show Western US possessive as “you guys’s” but something I hear even more often is “your guys’s”
This is great! Although I can’t actually change the options away from Texan English; I can’t click the save button.
Love this extension!