complete verse (Isaiah 29:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 29:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “This revelation shall be hidden from you (plur.). The words that are in the book are like when it has been sealed well. If a person who knows how to read is brought to you he will say, ‘I am not able to read because it is sealed.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “For you the vision is only words written on the scroll of a book which has been sealed up. After you give the scroll of the book to anyone who is able to read, and speaking like this you ask him, "Please read this," he will answer, "No I can’t read this, it has been closed by putting a seal on it."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “For you(p), all these which have-been-revealed to you (plur.) seems-like a close book. If you (sing.) cause- it -to-read to a man who knows how to read, he will-say, ‘I could not read it because (it is) closed.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Yahweh gave me this vision; but for you, it is only words on a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to those who can read and request that they read it, they will say, ‘We cannot read it because the scroll is sealed.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Japanese benefactives (yonde)

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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 benefactive construction as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

Here, yonde (読んで) or “read” is used in combination with kudasaru (くださる), a respectful form of the benefactive kureru (くれる). A benefactive reflects the good will of the giver or the gratitude of a recipient of the favor. To convey this connotation, English translation needs to employ a phrase such as “for me (my sake)” or “for you (your sake).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Isaiah 29:11

And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed: The vision of all this refers to what the prophet himself has seen and shared with the people. It may be rendered “My vision of all this.” Good News Translation says “every prophetic vision,” which is incorrect. The contents of his vision could be only the previous two verses or everything he said since 28.1. For vision see 1.1.

The vision became like the words of a book that is sealed. In the eighth century B.C. books were not made of paper pages bound together as we know them today, but they were made of pieces of skin or parchment sewn together to form a long scroll. Good News Translation, New International Version, and New American Bible say “scroll” instead of book. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh uses the word “document.” Official scrolls in the ancient world were sealed with wax and stamped with the sender’s personal mark. The seal on a scroll could not be broken except by a person with official permission to do so. The prophet uses this simile to tell the people that they are not able to understand the vision he has shared with them. It is like a scroll that cannot be read because it is sealed. Translators in some languages may face difficulties in conveying the idea of a “sealed scroll.” If so, this simile may be rendered “like a book that cannot be opened.”

When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed”: Here the prophet expands on the illustration of the sealed scroll. If they give it to someone who can read, he will be unable to read it since he does not have the authority to break the seal. When men give it to one who can read is a conditional clause, which may be rendered “If people give it to someone who can read” (similarly Good News Translation). I cannot may be expanded to “I am not able to read it.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The vision of all I have told you is to you like the words in a book that cannot be opened. It is as though someone gave a book to a person who can read and said, “Read this,” but the person replies, “I am unable to read this book because it is sealed.”

• This whole vision I have told you about is to you just like a book that is sealed up. If it were given to people who can read and they were asked to read it, they would say, “We cannot read it because it cannot be opened.”

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 .