Normally a speaker refers to himself as "I" and the person he is speaking to as "you." Sometimes in the Bible a speaker referred to himself or to the person he was speaking to with a phrase other than "I" or "you."
* **First person** - This is how a speaker normally refers to himself. English uses the pronouns "I" and "we." (Also: me, my, mine; us, our, ours)
* **Second person** - This is how a speaker normally refers to the person or people he is speaking to. English uses the pronoun "you." (Also: your, yours)
* **Third person** - This is how a speaker refers to someone else. English uses the pronouns "he," "she," "it" and "they." (Also: him, his, her, hers, its; them, their, theirs) Noun phrases like "the man" or "the woman" are also third person.
Sometimes in the Bible a speaker used the third person to refer to himself or to the people he was speaking to. Readers might think that the speaker was referring to someone else. They might not understand that he meant "I" or "you."
### Examples from the Bible
Sometimes people used the third person instead of "I" or "me" to refer to themselves.
David referred to himself in the third person as "your servant" and "his." He was calling himself Saul's servant in order to show his humility before Saul.
>Abraham answered and said, "Look what I have done, taking it upon myself to speak to <u>my Lord</u>, even though I am only dust and ashes! (Genesis 18:27 ULT)
After saying "each of you," Jesus used the third person "his" instead of "your."
### Translation Strategies
If using the third person to mean "I" or "you" would be natural and give the right meaning in your language, consider using it. If not, here are some other options.
* **Then Yahweh answered Job out of a fierce storm and said, "… Do you have an arm like <u>God's</u>? Can you thunder with a voice like <u>him</u>?** (Job 40:6, 9 ULT)
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