complete verse (Isaiah 29:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 29:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “You turn things upside down.
    The clay is not like the person who forms clay pots.
    And can something which a person has formed
    say to that person, ‘You did not create me,’
    or say to the one who shaped (it),
    ‘You (sing.) do not know what you are doing?’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Thinking like the clay that the potter kneads,
    you have it all backwards!
    What! Do things that are made
    speak like this to the one who made them,
    "you didn’t make me’?
    What! Can the vessels that are made
    speak about the potter like this,
    "What have you done,
    you don’t even know anything."?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) are senseless! You (plur.) consider that like a pot the one-who-makes pots. Can a made thing say to the one who made it, ‘You (sing.) are not the one who made me?’ Can a pot say to the one who formed it, ‘You (sing.) know nothing?’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They are extremely foolish!
    They act as though they were the potters and I was the clay!
    Something that was created should certainly never say to the one who made it,
    ‘You did not make me!’
    A jar should never say,
    ‘The potter who made me did not know what he was doing!’’” (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. )

Translation commentary on Isaiah 29:16

You turn things upside down!: With this figure of speech the prophet accuses the foolish advisers of reversing the way things should be. Their advice is leading the king of Judah in the wrong direction. New Jerusalem Bible says “How perverse you are!” (similarly New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but the idea of turning things upside down expresses much more vividly what the prophet charges them with here. Good News Translation refers to the advisers in the third person here, as in the previous verse: “They turn everything upside down.” Other languages may find this helpful.

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay…?: In the rest of this verse the prophet compares the advisers to a clay pot that tries to reverse its role with its maker. Revised Standard Version has one long rhetorical question here with the expected answer of “No!” The clay pot cannot reverse its role with its maker. Most versions have two or three questions here for better style; for example, for this whole verse New International Version has “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He did not make me’? Can the pot say of the potter, ‘He knows nothing’?” (similarly Revised English Bible). This is a good model that avoids the complex structure of Revised Standard Version. See also the examples below.

The Hebrew word rendered potter comes from a root meaning “to form/fashion [something],” often in the sense of “to create.” A potter is a person who takes clay and molds it into a pot, making something useful or decorative. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay may be rendered as a statement by saying “The potter is not the same as the clay.”

That the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”: The thing made is the clay pot and its maker is the potter. The clay pot cannot deny that the potter made it. The direct speech here may be made indirect by saying “the clay pot cannot deny that its maker [or, the potter] actually made it.”

Or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”: These two lines are parallel to the previous two. The pot also cannot claim that its creator lacks wisdom. If it did so, it would show its own stupidity. Its maker renders the same Hebrew verb used for God’s creation of man in Gen 2.7 (see also Psa 33.15). Revised English Bible renders understanding as “skill,” which fits this context well since the potter’s work is a very practical one.

The clay pot criticizing its potter as an illustration of Yahweh the Creator and his people occurs again in 45.9-13. In that context the people tell Yahweh that his message about Cyrus and the return of Judah to Jerusalem is not believable.

For the translation of this verse we offer the following examples:

• You turn everything upside down!
Do you consider the clay to be like the potter?
Can the clay pot say to the one who made it,
“He didn’t make me”?
Or can the created thing say to its creator
“He doesn’t know what he is doing”?

• You overturn everything!
Is the potter to be treated as the clay?
Can the clay pot deny that the one who made it is its maker?
Can the created object claim that its creator understands nothing?

• Everything you twist around!
The potter is not like the clay;
the clay pot cannot say to its maker, “You didn’t make me!”
or to its creator, “You know nothing!”

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 .