Translation commentary on Exod 15:7

Verses 7-11 are the second part of the song, which is addressed to Yahweh and speaks of his power in more general terms. In the greatness of thy majesty is literally “In the abundance of your height [or, loftiness].” Various terms may be used here, but Good News Translation is easier to understand: “In majestic triumph.” It is possible, though, to express this sentence as “You gloriously defeated your enemies and destroyed them,” or even “You have gained great honor by defeating your enemies and destroying them.” (See the comment on “triumphed gloriously” at verse 1.) Thou overthrowest thy adversaries uses a verb meaning to break down or destroy. Adversaries is derived from a verb that means to stand up or rise. Here the participle means “those who rise against you” (Durham). Other ways to express thy adversaries are “your enemies,” “those who hate you,” or “those who oppose you.”

Thou sendest forth thy fury uses the verb “to let go,” the same word used in the demand to “let my people go.” It means to release or give free play to something. Here it is Yahweh’s fury, or “anger” (Good News Translation), which comes from the word “to burn or become hot.” (See 4.14 and 32.19.) It is therefore related to what follows, it consumes them like stubble, referring back to the adversaries in the first line. So New International Version has “You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.” Consumes is the word “to eat,” but here it gives the picture of fire that “devours” the stubble (Jerusalem Bible). (See the comment on stubble at 5.12.) Good News Translation has “your anger blazes out and burns them up like straw,” and Contemporary English Version has “Your fiery anger wiped them out, as though they were straw.” If it is impossible in a receptor language for the translator to talk about “fiery anger,” it may be possible to use similes and say, for example, “You get very angry just like a hot fire, and you burn up your enemies as if they were straw.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

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