וְעָפ֨וּ בְכָתֵ֤ף פְּלִשְׁתִּים֙ יָ֔מָּה יַחְדָּ֖ו יָבֹ֣זּוּ אֶת־בְּנֵי־קֶ֑דֶם אֱד֤וֹם וּמוֹאָב֙ מִשְׁל֣וֹח יָדָ֔ם וּבְנֵ֥י עַמּ֖וֹן מִשְׁמַעְתָּֽם׃
14But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west;
together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites shall obey them.
The term that is transliterated as “Philistines” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that signifies the helmet the Philistine warriors wore was decorated with feather-like objects. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Philistines” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” (Source: Don Slager) Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post).
In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff.)
“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.
Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
See also cardinal directions / left and right.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing.” “For to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )
In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
See also disobedience.
When the people of Israel and Judah return from exile, they will no longer fight each other (verse 13); instead they will attack their common enemies together. The nations listed are those that were once under King David’s control, so the prophet foresees a return to the days when the nation of Israel was at the peak of its power under King David.
But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west: The combined forces of Israel and Judah will attack their traditional enemies to the west, the Philistines. The verb phrase swoop down upon, which is literally “fly upon,” recalls a bird of prey that flies down swiftly to pick up its prey. It is a graphic picture of an army on the move. Good News Translation renders it nonfiguratively with “attack.” Bible en français courant has “charge at.” The shoulder of the Philistines is a metaphor for that part of the Philistine territory closest to Israel’s southern hill country. It is known as the Shephelah, the area between the Judean hills and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. New American Bible suggests “the foothills of the Philistines,” New Jerusalem Bible has “the Philistines’ back” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and Revised English Bible says “the Philistine flank.” Good News Translation simply has “the Philistines,” which is acceptable, but it is better to retain some kind of geographical expression. For this line Bible en français courant has “To the west together they charge at the hills of Philistia,” but that may give the wrong idea because the hills are not really in Philistia. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is better with “Together they storm to the west, down the slopes onto the Philistines.”
In the west is literally “toward the sea.” It means to the west of Israel. Translating compass directions in many languages is a challenge. However, “west” may not be difficult since we may say “toward the place where the sun sets.” If this rendering is used, it should not give the impression that the attack will take place in the evening. For the translation of the four compass points, see 2.6.
And together they shall plunder the people of the east: During David’s reign the countries to the east of the Jordan River were all under Israel’s control. In the ideal future the combined forces of both Israelite kingdoms will attack and plunder those countries. To plunder is to take everything from a country after defeating it. In some languages a verb such as “rob” or “steal” may be the only option. The people of the east generally points to the people who lived on the eastern side of the Jordan River. They are identified by name in the next two lines.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab: These two nations were located on the top of the plateau east of the Dead Sea. Edom was the nation to the south, extending to the Gulf of Aqaba. Moab was the nation just north of it. The verb phrase put forth their hand against implies an attack, which may be stated clearly. Good News Translation has “conquer,” and Bible en français courant says “extend their rule over.”
And the Ammonites shall obey them: The country of Ammon was north of Moab and its capital was located on the site of the present capital of Jordan, Amman. The Ammonites shall obey them means they will be subject to the victorious Israelites.
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• But together Ephraim and Judah will attack the Philistines down the foothills in the west and plunder the people to the east. They will attack Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon will have to submit to them.
• But Ephraim and Judah together will sweep down on the Philistines to the west. They will conquer the people to the east of the Jordan: they will attack Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them [or, will obey them].
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 .