complete verse (Isaiah 24:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 24:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “They shall be gathered in one place
    to be like prisoners in a pit.
    the house shall be shut
    and later, they shall be punished,
    after many days have passed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “God will put the kings into a pit like prisoners, [lit.: tamp them].
    By the time their time of punishment comes
    he will have confined them in prison for many days.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They will- all -be-gathered into a pit like prisoners. They will-be-put-to-prison, and later-on will-be-punished.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 24:22

They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit is literally “They will be gathered a gathering in a pit.” In Hebrew this is weʾussefu ʾasefah ʾassir ʿal bor, which has alliteration with the “s” sound. The pronoun They most likely refers to both the heavenly host and the kings of verse 21, even though Good News Translation sees only the kings in view here. For those languages that require an active verb here, God may be the subject here and in the next two lines (so Good News Translation; see the second example below). As prisoners in a pit compares the punishment of the heavenly host and the kings to the practice of keeping criminals in a dungeon. The Hebrew word for pit is not the same one as in verses 17-18. It is parallel with prison in the next line, so translators need to decide on suitable equivalents for both terms. Revised English Bible has “dungeon” and “jail.”

They will be shut up in a prison is parallel with the previous two lines. The noun prison may also be translated “dungeon,” depending on the rendering for pit in the previous line.

And after many days they will be punished: There will be a delay in the punishment of the heavenly host and the kings. Punished (literally “visited”) renders the same Hebrew verb translated “punish” in the previous verse. It has the negative sense of punishment here also. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh gives it a positive sense by rendering this line as “But after many days they shall be remembered.” We do not recommend this.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• They will [all] be gathered together like prisoners in a hole;
they will be locked up in a dungeon.
Then after a long time they will be punished.

• God will gather them together like prisoners in a pit;
he will imprison in a dungeon.
Then after many days he will punish 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 .