The Hebrew that is translated as “Lord of hosts” in English (or: “Yahweh of Armies” [translation by John Goldingay, 2018], “Hashem, Master of Legions” [ArtScroll Tanach translation, 2011]) is translated in various ways: It’s translated as “God the Highest Ruler” in Kankanaey, as “Lord Almighty” in Newari, as Mndewa Imulungu or “Lord with all power” in Kutu (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), as Wànjūnzhī Yēhéhuá (万军之耶和华) or “Jehovah of 10,000 [=all] armies” in Mandarin Chinese, as “Yawe God of the universe” in Mandinka, and in the German (Luther) Bible the second part of the name is transliterated: Herr Zebaoth or “Lord Zebaoth” (Swedish, Finnish and Latvian use the same translation strategy). The Russian Orthodox Synod translation uses a transliteration of the second part of the designation as well: Господь Саваоф / Gospod’ Savaof.
The traditional French translation of l’Eternel/Yahve/le Seigneur/Seigneur des armées (“Lord of the armies”) presents a problem when listened to, as Jean-Marc Babut explains (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 411ff. ):
“For the hearer, the traditional translation l’Eternel/Yahvé/le Seigneur des armées can easily be taken in a bad sense: there is nothing, in fact, to prevent the listener from hearing l’Eternel désarmé, ‘the Eternal One disarmed’ or ‘stripped of his power’! (…). Thus the Bible en français courant [publ. 1997] has decided to use the expression Seigneur/Dieu de l’univers, “Lord/God of the Universe”. This formula, which has an undeniably liturgical ring, seems to have been favorably received by users.”
Other, later French Bibles who have chosen a similar strategy, include Parole de Vie (publ. 2017) with Seigneur de l’univers or Bible Segond 21 (publ. 2007) with l’Eternel, le maître de l’univers.
The English that is translated as “says the Lord” or “says the Lord God” is translated in some influential French translations as oracle de Yahvé (La Bible de Jérusalem) oracle du Seigneur (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), and oracle de l’Éternel (Nouvelle Version Segond Révisée 1978) or “oracle (authoritative statement) of YHWH (or: the Lord).”
Timothy Lloyd Wilt (in The Bible Translator 1999, p. 301ff. ) describes the Hebrew ne’um (adonay) YHWH (quoting S. Meier, 1992) as “a highly marked expression (…) Hebrew does not characteristically repunctuate quoted discourse with reminders of the quote’s source, making this particle’s function quite distinctive and certainly unique in its frequency and distribution.”
The French translations above are emulating this with their distinct wording containing the French oracle.
Similarly, the French translation by Chouraqui uses harangue de or “harangue (or: ‘sermon’) of YHWH” and the English translation by Fox uses Utterance of YHWH. Both of these translations are Jewish translations that attempt to emulate the Hebraic nature of the original text. (Source: Drew Maust) Likewise, the translation by Goldingay (2018) has Yahweh’s declaration, typically set in parentheses: (Yahweh’s declaration).
The translation into Kera marks this by using the equivalent of “the words of me, YHWH” (source: Jackie Hainaut) and a language in West Africa, belonging to the Mande language family, uses a honorific form of “say,” that is only used for speech from God or his prophets. Both of these languages are spoken in francophone Africa.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 1:24:
Kupsabiny: “So, the God of authority of Israel says, ‘I shall become angry with you people of Jerusalem, and I shall punish you because you are enemies.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Therefore LORD, the LORD Almighty, Mighty One of Israel says, "Ah! I will show my anger to my enemies, I will pay them for opposing me.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Therefore the LORD, the Almighty God of Israel says: ‘I will-revenge/avenge to you (plur.) who are from-Jerusalem, who are my enemies, so that I will- not -be-disturbed of what you (plur.) are-doing.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Therefore (Good News Translation “So now”) is an important discourse marker. It is a turning point in this prophecy. It shows that what follows is based on the situation described in the previous verses. Its sense is “Because of this situation.”
The Lord says, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: The use of solemn titles to refer to God is typical of Isaiah’s style (see verses 4, 9). The threefold title here is a way of emphasizing what Yahweh is about to say. The title Lord renders the general Hebrew word meaning “master.” For the LORD of hosts, see the comments on ISA 1.9. Translators will need to decide whether to distinguish Lord from LORD. We recommend they make a distinction if possible. The Mighty One of Israel is a title found only here in the Old Testament, but there are several references to “the Mighty One of Jacob” (Gen 49.24; Psa 132.2, 5; Isa 49.26; 60.16; “Jacob” and Israel are synonymous). As the title suggests, it focuses on the strength and power of Yahweh. Models for translation are “Israel’s powerful God” (Good News Translation), “the strong God of Israel” (Bible en français courant), and “the mighty ruler of Israel” (Contemporary English Version).
Says does not translate the general Hebrew word for “say/speak.” Here it renders a noun meaning “oracle” or “declaration.” It refers uniquely to solemn, divine utterances. The Lord says is literally “oracle of the Lord.” The usual expression is literally “oracle of the LORD,” which is found mostly at the end of a divine speech, but sometimes at the beginning (see Psa 110.1). Translators should try to avoid simply saying “The Lord says.” Revised English Bible has attempted to capture the solemnity of the speech with “This … is the word of the Lord.” Bible en français courant has “the supreme Master … makes this declaration.”
For the Hebrew particle rendered Ah, see the comments on ISA 1.4. The tone of the expression here is one of deep dismay and lament. It introduces a set of six verbs in the first person in which Yahweh tells of his plans for judgment (verses 24b-26). It would be best to keep Yahweh’s quote here unless the language requires indirect speech. If so, translators will need to rephrase the passage in the third person without quotation marks; for example, the beginning of this verse may be rendered “This is the oracle … Ah, he will vent his wrath….”
I will vent my wrath on my enemies: The sense of this clause is that Yahweh will pour out his grief and anger against his enemies. It may be translated “I will be very angry with my enemies” But who are the LORD’s enemies? Normally we would expect my enemies to refer to Israel’s enemies. However, in this present context the people of Judah are in focus, especially the members of the leading class. This may need to be made clear in the translation. We can say “you, my enemies,” as Good News Translation has done.
And avenge myself on my foes is parallel to the previous clause and synonymous in meaning. Here Yahweh declares his intention to seek vengeance against his enemies, the people of Judah. If the receptor language does not have a verb with the meaning “take revenge on,” or if such a verb has a sinful connotation, the verb “punish” may be used.
Translation examples for this verse are:
• For that reason the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty Warrior of Israel declares:
“Oh, how I will show my anger against you, my enemies,
I will seek vengeance against you, my foes.
• Therefore, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Mighty One of Israel declares
that he will pour out his anger against you, his enemies,
that he will take vengeance against you, his foes.
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 .
or “harangue (or: ‘sermon’) of YHWH” and the
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