The Hebrew and Greek that is translated into English as “the wrath of God” or “God’s anger” has to be referred to in Bengali as judgment, punishment or whatever fits the context. In Bengali culture, anger is by definition bad and can never be predicated of God. (Source: David Clark)
Translations in other languages:
Quetzaltepec Mixe: “translated with a term that not only expresses anger, but also punishment” (source: Robert Bascom)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “the coming punishment of God on mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “God’s fearful/terrible future punishing of people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “the coming anger/hatred of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “the punishment which will come” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Bariai: “God’s action of anger comes forth in the open” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Mairasi: “His anger keeps increasing (until it will definitely arrive)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御) is used as in mi-ikari (御怒り) or “wrath (of God)” in the referenced verses. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 14:6:
Kupsabiny: “He crushed people in anger and did not rest, and he persecuted those people he ruled without showing mercy to them.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Which had always been beating people in anger, and, having unbearably suppressed nation after nation, had given [them] suffering and trouble.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “that in their anger they have not stopped their cause-to-suffer to the people, and there is no holding-back their persecution to the nations.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “You attacked people many times because you were very angry with them, and you subdued/conquered other nations by causing them to suffer endlessly.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The description of the wicked rulers from the previous verse continues. The verbs here are singular in Hebrew since their subject is the “scepter” in verse 5 that symbolizes the power of these rulers. If this personification is not natural in the receptor language, translators may use plural pronouns to refer to the wicked rulers of the previous verse (so Good News Translation).
That smote the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows: This describes a nation whose cruelty was unending. The Babylonians struck the peoples, a term used in verse 2 to refer to other nations. They attacked them in wrath, that is, “angrily.” With unceasing blows is literally “strikes not turning aside.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “With stroke unceasing.” The Babylonians were constantly and furiously attacking others.
That ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution describes Babylonia’s oppressive rule of other nations. The Hebrew verb rendered ruled is the same one used in verse 2. It usually appears in contexts where one nation holds power over others. Thus it carries the sense of domination. In anger is parallel to in wrath. It indicates how harshly the Babylonians treated those they had subjugated. Translators could say “with force,” “with violence,” or “cruelly.” With unrelenting persecution is literally “pursuit not refraining [or, unchecked].” Unrelenting describes something that never stops. New Jerusalem Bible says “pursuing without respite,” New International Version “with relentless aggression,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “In relentless pursuit.” Good News Translation uses a verb here, saying “never stopped persecuting.”
New Jerusalem Bible provides this helpful model for the verse: “furiously lashing peoples with continual blows, angrily hammering nations, pursuing without respite.” Other translation examples are:
• These evildoers furiously attacked nations time and time again. They cruelly dominated people, pursuing them unceasingly.
• In their fury these evildoers [or, they] constantly attacked nations. They fiercely dominated people and oppressed them without end.
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 .
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