We have heard of …: For languages that have inclusive and exclusive pronouns, the pronoun We is inclusive. It includes the prophet and his audience. Moab’s pride and pitiful situation was common knowledge within Judah (see also Jer 48.29-38). Good News Translation‘s quote frame, “The people of Judah say,” appears to exclude the prophet from the pronoun We.

The pride of Moab, how proud he was; of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence: The words pride, proud and arrogance render the same Hebrew root. It is used four times to emphasize the pride of the Moabites. This root’s meaning is related to “rising up,” and when it used as a noun or adjective it refers to a person who has exalted himself. It is also connected to the idea of majesty. The synonym insolence translates a different Hebrew root. As far as the prophet is concerned, Yahweh destroyed Moab because of its pride. Pride as the primary cause of troubles is similar to the theme of many other oracles against foreign nations (see, for example, 13.11, 19; 14.11). Translators should aim for the same emphasis on pride that is found here in the original text, even if repetition is not possible (see Good News Translation for an example where repetition is avoided).

His boasts are false: There is some question about the precise meaning of the Hebrew noun rendered boasts. BDB suggests it comes from a root meaning “talk idly.” So Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders this line as “But all his showing-off is empty chattering.” Sweeney suggests Moab’s arrogance was not justified in light of its weakness, so he renders false as “not in proportion to him”. This also appears to be the view of the Vulgate, which reads this line as “its lack of dignity is more than its strength.” Despite the lack of consensus about the precise meaning of the Hebrew noun here, boasts appears to be an acceptable rendering. Bible en français courant speaks of “his boasts being without reason” (similarly Contemporary English Version). The prophet is referring to Moab’s empty or baseless pride.

Here and throughout this oracle, New International Version uses feminine pronouns for Moab (“she” and “her”). It does this because countries are often seen as feminine in English.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• We know all about Moab’s pride, how proud it is; [we know about] its pride, its arrogance and conceit. Its claims are hollow [or, empty].

• We have heard of Moab’s pride, its great pride; we have heard of its pride, its conceit, and its arrogance. It has no grounds for such arrogance.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .