complete verse (Isaiah 30:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 30:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “What Egypt can help those people with is useless.
    So, I gave Egypt the name
    to be called
    ‘Monster that can do nothing.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The help from the land of Egypt has gone very much in vain.
    So I have called it ‘Rahab, the one who does nothing.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “This nation is Egipto, whose help has no value. Therefore I call it ‘Dragon that Lies-Down.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The promises made by the king of Egypt are worthless;
    therefore I call Egypt ‘the sea monster/dragon that does nothing’.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 30:7

For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty: The connector For renders the common Hebrew conjunction. Here it is better translated “But” or omitted (so Good News Translation). Judah expects help, but Egypt is unreliable. This line is literally “And Egypt is empty/useless and [in] vain they will help.” The Revised Standard Version rendering focuses on Egypt’s help, but the Hebrew text highlights Egypt. A model that keeps the focus of the Hebrew is “Egypt is useless, and they will offer vain help.”

Therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still”: These two lines are problematic. The connector therefore indicates that they are a conclusion to the previous line. The pronoun I refers to the prophet. Because Egypt’s help is useless, the prophet refers to it in a critical way. However, the specific meaning of what he calls Egypt is difficult to interpret. Some other renderings for the Hebrew translated Rabab who sits still are “Rahab the Do-Nothing” (New International Version), “Rahab quelled” (New American Bible), “Rahab Subdued” (Revised English Bible), and “Rahab-the-collapsed” (New Jerusalem Bible). These each render the Hebrew noun rahab as a personal name. Good News Translation suggests “The Harmless Dragon,” believing that the word rahab refers to a mythical sea monster (51.9; Job 9.13; Psa 89.10) like Leviathan (see the comments on 27.1). Although there have been some suggestions for modifying Masoretic Text, we (also Hebrew Old Testament Text Project) prefer to retain it, especially since the various renderings are close enough to make little difference. The translations that render rahab as a name compare Egypt to Rahab, a great sea monster. However, that monster sits still, which means it does nothing. In the context this meaning is appropriate since the prophet is warning Judah that Egypt’s help will be fruitless. So we commend New International Version‘s rendering listed above. The name Rahab will require a footnote to explain that it is the name of a big monster that the people believed lived in the sea. Translators may also render rahab as “sea monster,” but they should include a footnote indicating that the Hebrew text has the name “Rahab.” Some interpreters identify Rahab as the hippopotamus, a big animal that during daytime lies quietly in the water, doing nothing. This animal is well known in the upper Nile River.

Suggested translations for this verse are:

• But Egypt is useless,
it will offer vain help;
that is why I call it “Rahab the do-nothing.”

• But Egypt is useless,
and vain will be is its offer of help;
so I have given it the name “The sea monster who just sits still.”

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 .