gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Isaiah 37:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 37:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “When also my forefathers destroyed the communities of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and Eden who were in the land of Tel Assar, could their idols save them?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “What! My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran and Rezeph, and [they] killed the people of Eden living in Tel-assar. But was any god able to deliver them?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “My ancestors destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezef, and the people of Eden who are in Telasar. Have- they -been-saved by their little-gods?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Did the gods of the nations that were about to be destroyed by the armies of the previous kings of Assyria rescue them? Did those gods rescue Gozan region, and Haran and Rezeph cities in northern Syria, and the people of Eden region who were forced to go to Tel-Assar city?” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 37:12

The rhetorical questions in verses 12-13 are very similar to those in 36.18-20 (see the comments there). Sennacherib asserts that no gods were able to save their nations from Assyrian aggression. He implies that the same will be true for Judah.

Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations which my fathers destroyed…?: The gods of the nations are the various gods worshiped by different nations. My fathers refers to the Assyrian kings who preceded Sennacherib. Like Good News Translation, many versions say “my ancestors.” Another possible rendering is “my predecessors.”

Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar: Here Sennacherib lists some of the places conquered by Assyria. They were located between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Gozan was a city on the upper reaches of the Habur River. Captives from Samaria were sent there (2 Kgs 17.6). Haran was an ancient city, the place where Abraham and his family stayed for a time on their journey to Canaan (Gen 11.31). Rezeph was a city that probably was located on the upper part of the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq. The exact location of Eden is uncertain, but it was a region somewhere in the central part of the Euphrates Valley (see Gen 2.8). Tel-assar was a city within Eden, maybe its capital city, so Bible en français courant renders the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar as “the capital of the Edenites, Telassar.” Instead of Eden, Good News Translation has “Betheden” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), based on Amos 1.5. It is better to keep Eden. New Jerusalem Bible emends the Hebrew text to read “Tel Basar,” instead of Tel-assar. However, we agree with Hebrew Old Testament Text Project that translators should not do this.

Good News Translation restructures the long rhetorical question of this verse into a strong statement, composed of two parts. Some languages will find it a good way to deal with this complex verse.

Several translation examples for this verse are:

• Have the gods of the cities of Gozan, Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Telassar, been able to rescue them? No, my ancestors destroyed all these places.

• My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran and Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar. The gods of these cities were unable to rescue 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 .