Introduction

The goal of Y’all Version (YALL) is to reclaim the Bible as an ancient text written not just for you, the individual, but for y’all, the community of faith in the one true God, whose name is YHWH.

Y’all Version (YALL) began as website (yallversion.com) that highlighted where the original Hebrew and Greek used distinct words to address a singular person (“you”) versus a plural group (“y’all”). It has since grown into a unique translation that includes additional features designed to help identify God and God’s people, YHWH and y’all.

So God created humans in ʜɪꜱ own image. In the image of God ʜᴇ created them; male and female ʜᴇ created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Y’all are to be fruitful and multiply. Y’all are to fill the earth and subdue it. (Gen 1:26-27 YALL)

“May YHWH show y’all the same kindness that y’all have shown to your dead husbands and to me.” (Ruth 1:8 YALL)

“Therefore, y’all go and make disciples of all ethnic groups, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 28:19 YALL)

Key Features of Y’all Version

1. The Name of God (YHWH)

YALL renders the divine name of God as YHWH, representing the four consonants of the Hebrew word (יהוה). YALL renders pronouns for God with small caps (Hᴇ, ʜᴇ, ʜɪᴍ, ʜɪꜱ) and pronouns for Jesus with masculine pronouns (he, him, his).

In the centuries before Jesus’s birth, a Hebrew who reader who came across the divine name would say the word Adonia (אֲדֹנָי, Lord) out of reverence rather than verbalizing יהוה. This tradition was carried forward into the King James Version (1611), which rendered the divine name as LORD (all caps). More recent translations updated this to Lord (small caps). Some English versions have used transliterations such as “Yahweh” or “Jehovah” for the divine name, but YALL uses YHWH without vowels to make the name of God stand out more clearly (“You must not carry the name of YHWH in vain” Exodus 20:7) while also being appropriately reverent toward God’s covenant name. When the New Testament quotes an Old Testament passage where the Hebrew included the divine name in the vicinity, this is noted in brackets as [YHWH].

Most modern English translations use traditional casing for divine pronouns, but some translations such as the New American Standard Bible (NASB) use capitalized pronouns (He, His, Him, Your, My) for God out of reverence. YALL draws on the tradition of rendering the divine name in small caps (Lord), but applies the small caps to pronouns for God out of reverence for ʜɪᴍ and to clarify that God is spirit and is not limited to categories ʜᴇ created such as male and female or masculine and feminine. This preserves the original text, but hightens our awe by reminding us that the divine ʜᴇ is not a male he. And yet, in the mystery of the incarnation, the second person of the Triune God took on a male human body dependent upon the female body of Mary, and therefore the human Jesus is a male he.

2. The People of God (Y’all)

YALL renders Hebrew and Greek second person plurals pronouns and verbs with “y’all,” a contraction of “you all.”

Y’all was first made popular in the Southern regions of the United States, but it is found as far back to seventeenth English century poetry. Making a distinction between the singular you and plural y’all clarifies that the audience in many promises (“I know the plans I have for y’all” Jeremiah 29:11) and commands (He said with a loud voice, “Y’all fear God and give ʜɪᴍ glory” Revelation 14:7) is a group rather than exclusively individuals. In some passages with several second person plural verbs and pronouns, a singular form will be used with an asterisk such as your* or yourselves* for readability. For commands in the imperative form, helper terms like “should” and “must” have been occasionally inserted to clarify the force.

YALL renders most general statements that apply to all people with terms like “the one who” instead of using masculine pronouns such “he who.” In Hebrew and Greek as well as older forms of English, masculine pronouns were often used to refer to all people regardless of gender. However, today’s readers tend to understand the word “he” and “man” as referring exclusively to male persons, while the term “they” has been used as an indeterminate gender singular pronoun since the 14th century (See the Oxford English Dictionary).

3. The Word of God

YALL translates Greek and Hebrew using a balance of a dynamic, readable English word order with a word-for-word approach that works to highlight the underlying vocabulary as much as possible.

For example, in the Hebrew text, when a verb is repeated twice for emphasis (an infinitive absolute), rather than adding an adverb such as “surely die,” YALL repeats the word as “die-die.” In Greek, YALL directly translats the word “walk” rather than clarifying the meaning with a word like “live”: “Therefore y’all must watch carefully how y’all walk, not as unwise, but as wise” (Eph 5:15).

Similarly, in Acts (1:24; 15:8), God is called kardiognōstēs (καρδιογνῶστα) which is usually translated “who knows the heart,” but a more word-for-word version is “heart-knower.” A more complex example comes in the synoptic gospels, where most translations say that Jesus “does not show partiality,” (Matt. 22:16), but a literal rendering is “doesn’t look at the face of humans.”

YALL also attempts to translate words using a consistent English term rather than choosing a contextually smoother word that offers variation. This is not always possible, but it often highlights repetition in an author’s usage. Some example terms that YALL renders differently than most translations are kalos (καλός) as “beautiful” or “excellent” rather simply “good”, adelphoi (ἀδελφοὶ) as “siblings” instead of “brethren,” anthropos (ἄνθρωπος) as “human” when not referring to a specific male person, doulos (δοῦλος) as “slave” rather than “servant,” ethnos (ἔθνος) as “ethnic group” rather than alternating between “Gentile” and “nation.” For many theological terms, YALL uses traditional forms such as “salvation” and “righeouness.”

Translation Status

The Greek New Testatment is a unique translation following the guidelines above, especially regarding second person plurals.

The Old Testament is a work in progress that, for now, uses the American Standard Version (ASV) and World English Bible (WEB) as a basis for changes rather than a full new translation, except for select books (Ruth, Jonah, Malachi).

Translation Philosophy

YALL attempts to translate the original languages word-for-word when possible rather than dynamically or thought-for-thought, but occasionally reorders words when needed for reasonable English syntax. The goal is to retain readable English while also exposing features of the underlying languages not typically preserved in modern English translations.

This relatively literal basis may seem unexpected for a translation with “y’all” because “y’all” is often associated with causal, informal, and even less intelligent speech. However, a translation with “y’all” is technically more word-for-word than one with only “you,” because it more accurately reflects the languages in which the Bible was originally written.

Similarly, rendering the divine name as YHWH is also a word-for-word choice since it converts the four letters of the tetragrammaton directly into English. At the same time, rendering divine pronouns with small caps preserves the underlying language while resisting a major theological error, and using non-gendered language for general statements represent an attempt to transfer what a hearer of the original text would have understood to today’s reader.

Why Use “Y’all” for Plurals?

The languages in which the Bible was originally written, Hebrew and Greek, as well as many modern languages like Spanish, Mandarin, and Hindi have distinct words for “you singular” (referring to one person) and “you plural” (referring to a group). But modern English does not have a gender-neutral second-person plural pronoun. English speakers use a variety of regional terms to address groups of people, such as “you lot” (United Kingdom), “you guys” (West Coast), “yinz” (Pittsburg), “you’uns” (meaning “you and your kin” in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and some Southern states), “you all,” and “y’all” which has a origins in both the Southern US broadly as well as African American Vernacular.

Of all these regional variations, “y’all” is is the best term for translating a second person plural for the following reasons: it is a single word (unlike “you all”), it is ungendered (unlike “you guys”), and it is the most widely understood and broadly accepted term, moving outside of the South and even the US since its adoption across social media. Of course, there are some drawbacks. Y’all is often associated causal or informal speech or with Southern accents which are sometimes stereotyped as being less intelligent. In addition, in some areas, specific uses of y’all have been identified, such as using y’all as a singular (“Y’all come back”), as a non-syntactic discourse marker (“I’m so excited y’all”), or as a smaller contrast to a larger “all y’all.” But even with these potential issues, the term “y’all” has grown in acceptance around the United States and the broader English-speaking word, and remains the best way to hear, see, and read what the original biblical texts are saying.

How English Second Person Plurals Changed Over Time

All languages change over time, and one of the ways English has changed is in its use of second person pronouns. At the time of the publication of the King James Version (1611), “thou” was the singular pronoun, while “ye” (subject) and “you” (object) were the plural pronouns.

Over time, some English speakers began using the plural “you” as a formal singular pronoun to address an important person such as a bishop or queen (somewhat like a royal “we”). This eventually caused “thou” and “thee” to fall out of usage in favor of “you.” For modern readers, “thou” often sounds like it would have been the more formal term, but this is because “thou” is used in places like the Psalms where God (singular) is being addressed, while “ye” and “you” are used for groups such as the Israelites and disciples.

The American Standard Version (1904) retained the use of “thou”, “ye”, “you,” but beginning in the 1960s Bible translations such as the New International Version (1984) began to shed KJV English, leading it and most modern translations to use “you” for both singular and plural pronouns. Y’all Version (YALL) reintroduces the distinction between the singular and plural second person pronouns in Hebrew and Greek into English.

Frequency of Second Person Plurals in Hebrew and Greek

The following table shows how often second person plurals appear in various books of the Bible, and demonstrates the variability depending on audience content. Leviticus and Deuteronomy have a higher percentage of second person plurals than Genesis because those books have more laws addressed to the Israelites. Similarly, most of Paul’s letters to churches (e.g., 1 Thessalonians) have a high frequency of second person plurals, but his letters to individuals like Timothy and Titus, contain very few.

Old Testament

New Testament

Whole Bible

Important Second Person Plurals

What follows are several examples of places where making the second person plural explicit (using y’all) draws out important aspects of the text.

Genesis 1:27-29

In the opening chapter of Genesis, when God creates humans, the text goes out of its way to mention both male and female (Gen 1:27) and follows this with commands that use second person plural verbs: “Y’all are to be fruitful and multiply. Y’all are to fill the earth and subdue it,” “Y’all are to have dominion over,” “I have given y’all every herb yielding seed.” This makes it clear that no human is left out of the dignity of being an image bearer of God and the responsiblity of dominion over creation.

Genesis 3:1-4

“Has God really said, ‘Y’all must not eat of any tree of the garden’?”

When the serpent addresses Eve, it rephrases the commands God originally gave to Adam—“you must not eat of the tree” (Gen 2:17)—with a second person plural. The y’all indicates that, although the serpent addresses Eve, Adam is also present for the conversation even though he isn’t directly mentioned until verse 6.

Exodus 20:13 vs. Deutermomy 14:10

“You must not murder.”

“Y’all must not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales.”

The Ten Commandments are all stated as second person singular commands which appear to be largely focused the morality and ethical behavior of individuals. However, the book of Deuteronomy has almost twice as many second person plurals as Exodus. Often this is when Moses or God address the people of Israel, but some commands are also given in the plural especially when they are identity markers that set the Israelites apart.

“Listen, Israel! You are to pass over the Jordan today” (9:1)

“From the day that you left the land of Egypt until y’all came to this place, y’all have been rebellious against YHWH.” (9:7b)

In chapter 9, Moses begins by addressing “Israel” with singular “you” but then in verse 7, he transitions mid-verse to plurals which seems more like he’s addressing the people in front of him.

Jeremiah 29:11

This verse is often used during major turning points in an individual’s life such as a graduation or job transition. However, translating this as, “I know the plans I have for y’all” makes it clear that God is speaking to a group of people (the exiled Israelites). Of course, God does care about each of us individually, but the truth is much grander in that God is directly the entire universe toward a redemptive end. But sometimes this plan includes being in exile and encouraging one anotehr to see glimpses of shalom in the darkest times.

Hosea 4:15

“Although you, Israel, play the prostitute, do not let Judah become guilty. And both of y’all must not go to Gilgal, nor up to Beth Aven, And y’all must not swear, ‘As YHWH lives.’

In this verse, YHWH initially addresses Israel with singular “you,” then brings in Judah, and finally switches to plural verb forms to address them both. This is natural in Hebrew, but invisible in modern English.

Matthew 14:13-21

In the story of the feeding of the five thousand, the synoptic gospels all have the disciples commanding Jesus using the imperitive “(You) send the crowd away.” Jesus then responds with another imperative, “(Y’all) give them something to eat.” In this case, YALL includes the pronoun with the word “must” in both verses to draw out the tension between them.

Mark 2:23-27 and Luke 6:1-3

The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?” (Mark 2:24)

But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are y’all doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 6:2 YALL)

Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” (Luke 6:2 NIV)

In this story, Jesus’s disciples pick grain on the Sabbath which bothers the Pharisees. In Mark’s version of the story, the Pharisees question Jesus about his disciples (they), but in Luke’s version, they question the disciples directly (y’all). Without the y’all, a reader of the NIV might think the Pharisees are questioning Jesus for eating rather than addressing his disciples. In both stories, Jesus responds with plural “Haven’t y’all read” (Mark 2:25; Luke 6:3).

Luke 13:34

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own chicks under her wings, but y’all refused!”

The verse starts addressing Jerusalem with “you who kill” (a singular participle with an implied second person), but later Jesus switches to second person plural addressing not Jerusalem, but the crowd. Translating this as “you refused” (without y’all) makes it seem like Jerusalem the city is at fault rather than the people who collectively make up Jerusalem.

Luke 22:31

In this passage, Jesus addresses Simon, but then also disusses the disciples in the second person plural. Some translations attempt to surface this by including “all” but YALL clarifies the addressees.

NASB: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;”

NIV: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.”

NET: “Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat,”

YALL: “Simon, Simon, look! Satan has demanded to have y’all and sift y’all like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail.”

1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19

“Don’t y’all know that y’all are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in y’all?” (1 Cor 3:16).

“Or don’t y’all know that y’all’s body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19)

These two examples indicate some ambiguity in the way Paul uses the second person plural and the concept of temple together. In the first passage (3:16), he seems to be saying that there is one temple of God made up of believers collectively (y’all). However, in the second passage (6:19), he is addressing sexual morality which seems to indicate that each person’s body is a kind of temple. The use of y’all brings this contexual variation to light more clearly.

Pastoral and Johannine Epistles

Paul liberally uses the second person plural in his letters to churches, especially to the Thessalonians. However, the pastoral epistles, addressed to Timothy and Titus, contain almost no y’alls except for the closing verse.

John’s epistles likewise vary. 2 John, addressed to Gaius, uses no second plurals, but 3 John, addressed to “the lady” uses many y’alls indicating the lady may refer to a church collective rather than an individual person.

Revelation 22:16

Jesus’s final words are says “Look! I am coming soon!” (Rev 22:12) and then, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give y’all this testimony for the churches” (Rev 22:16). In the preceeding passages, an angel addresses John with a singular “you” (Rev 22:9), but here Jesus is not addressing John singularly—the plural y’all indicates he is addressing a much larger audience. Jesus final words are for us, our communities of faith in churches plural.

Summary

The goal of the YALL translation is to create a modern English text that helps readers identify God and God’s people. It may be read on its own or used as a supplementary study tool alongside a favorite translation.

We hope y’all love it, but even more so, we hope it encourages y’all to grow in your* love for God and ʜɪꜱ creation.