complete verse (Isaiah 15:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 15:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “The people of Dibon will climb to the top of a mountain where they pray from,
    to come and cry there on the hills.
    The Moabites shall weep over Nebo and Medeba
    and shave the heads and their beards while mourning.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “[To] Dibon [and] to the temple to weep
    [he] went up to a puja place that was there.
    Bitterly, with loud cries [he] wept for Nebo and Medeba.
    All hair has been shaved, and all beards have been shaved.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Those of/from-Dibon went-up to their temple and to their places-of-worship on the high places in-order to cry there. Those of/from-Moab cry for Nebo and Medeba. Each one of them have-shaved- (their) -head and cut-off their beards to show their mourning.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The people of Dibon, your capital city, will go to their temple to mourn/weep;
    they will go to their shrines on the hilltops to weep.
    They will wail because of what happened to Nebo and Medeba towns in the south;
    they will all shave the hair of their heads, and the men will cut off their beards to show that they are grieving.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 15:2

This verse consists of three sentences. Each one has a textual and/or exegetical problem.

The daughter of Dibon has gone up to the high places to weep is literally “[It] has gone up the house and Dibon to the high places.” The Hebrew verb here is singular but it has two subjects: “the house and Dibon.” Since Masoretic Text is difficult to understand, many scholars and translators emend the text to say “the daughter of Dibon” (so Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) instead of “the house and Dibon.” Good News Translation and Revised English Bible also do this but they avoid personifying the town of Dibon as a woman by saying “The people of Dibon” (see the comments on “the daughter of Zion” at 1.8). The Hebrew words for “daughter” and “house” are almost identical, so a scribe may have made a mistake when copying the text here. However, the masculine verb form here does not support “daughter” as a subject. Since the Qumran text confirms Masoretic Text, we should retain it and deal with it as it stands, which is recommended by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. There are two possible interpretations of this sentence in Masoretic Text. First, the Hebrew word for “house” here (habayith) may be a town name since several other sentences in this section have two town names. If so, a possible rendering is “Habayith and Dibon have gone up to the heights to weep” (similarly King James Version). Second, the word “house” may refer to a temple, forming a parallel with high places in the next line. If so, a possible translation is “Dibon has gone up to the temple, to the high places to weep” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, New International Version). We prefer the second interpretation.

Dibon was the capital city of Moab, located in the north of the country. High places were local shrines where religious worship took place. It is not certain whether they were “high” on a hill or on level ground with steps going up to them. The people went there to weep because of the destruction of their nation.

Over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails: This sentence mentions two more towns of Moab. The town of Nebo was in the mountain region at the northeastern end of the Dead Sea. Mount Nebo was the mountain from which Moses viewed the Promised Land (Deut 34.1). Just to the south of Nebo was the town of Medeba. The Hebrew verb translated wails is one of the keywords in this oracle (15.2, 3, 8 [2 times]; 16.7 [2 times]). It speaks of loud crying (see the comments on 13.6). One interpretation issue here is whether the Hebrew preposition rendered over means that the people wailed “in” Nebo and Medeba or whether they wailed “concerning” these towns. We believe the people were lamenting concerning the destruction of these places (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). However, compare New Jerusalem Bible, which says they lamented “on [Mount] Nebo and in Medeba” (similarly Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

On every head is baldness, every beard is shorn: This simply means that the head of every Moabite person was shaved clean, including the beards of the men. On every head is literally “its head,” which refers to the nation as a whole. Shaving was done primarily for two reasons (see the comments at 7.20). People could shave their heads as an act of mourning, or an enemy could shave people to humiliate them. It is clear in this context that the Moabites shaved their own heads in mourning. In languages requiring active verb forms, translators may render this line as “the people have shaved their heads and beards.” They can also make explicit the reason for shaving, as Good News Translation has done by adding “in grief.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The people of Dibon have gone up to the temple, to the shrines to weep;
Moab wails for Nebo and Medeba;
the people have shaved their heads and beards [in grief].

• Dibon has gone up to its temple, to its shrines to weep;
Moab wails because of the fate of Nebo and Medeba;
[in grief] the people have shaved their heads and beards.

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 .