The Hebrew that is translated “silent,” “quiet,” or “keep peace” or similar in English is emphasized in the interconfessional Chichewa translation (publ. 1999) with the ideophone phee. (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 105)
Philip Noss (in The Bible Translator 1976, p. 100ff. ) explains the function of an ideophone: “The ideophone may be identified with onomatopoeia and other sound words frequently seen in French and English comic strips, but in [many] African languages it comprises a class of words with a very wide range of meaning and usage. They may function verbally, substantively, or in a modifying role similar to adverbs and adjectives. They describe anything that may be experienced: action, sound, color, quality, smell, or emotion. In oral literature they are used not only with great frequency but also with great creativity.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 42:14:
Kupsabiny: “God is saying, ‘I have not said anything for many days. I persevered and kept quiet but now I am shouting like a woman who is about to give birth.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “For a long time I have remained silent, have remained silent and restrained myself. But now I will cry out like a woman starting [to have] birth pains, Panting comes to me and I gasp. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “He says, ‘For a long time I just kept silent and I controlled myself. But now, I will-show my anger. I will-shout with panting like a (woman-)about-to-give-birth who is-in-pain-of-laboring.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
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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.
Good News Translation begins this verse with “God says” to indicate that God is speaking here. It also places double quote marks around his speech in verses 14-17. This may be a helpful model for other languages, but we prefer to begin with “The LORD says” to be closer to the Hebrew text.
For a long time I have held my peace could mean that Yahweh has not communicated with his people for a long period of time or that he has not acted for them for some time. If it has the second meaning, it refers to the fact that the Israelites have been left in exile in Babylonia without God rescuing them. In view of the overall content of this section it seems better to understand this line as referring to inactivity rather than to a lack of communication. A possible rendering is “For a long time I have not acted/done anything.” However, most modern versions choose the sense of not speaking; for example, Good News Translation has “For a long time I kept silent.” Translators may choose either meaning here.
I have kept still and restrained myself is parallel to the previous line. Like the previous verb, the Hebrew verb rendered kept still can refer to inactivity or silence (compare 36.21, where it is translated “were silent”). Most versions choose the sense of “silence”; for example, New International Version renders I have kept still as “I have been quiet,” Revised English Bible says “I kept silence,” and Good News Translation has “I did not answer my people.” Restrained myself means God consciously held back from doing something that he would have preferred to do. Revised English Bible has “held myself in check,” and New International Version says “held myself back.”
For the first two lines it would be helpful to include both the ideas of “keeping silent” and “staying inactive.” They are not far apart in meaning. Bible en français courant does it by saying “Since a long time I kept silent, refraining myself from intervening” (see also the examples below).
Now I will cry out like a woman in travail, I will gasp and pant marks a turning point: Yahweh will now act. He compares his action to that of a woman crying out in the process of giving birth. The imagery here refers to sounds made by a woman giving birth (cry out, gasp, pant), thereby suggesting that God will say something. But it also suggests that God will do something new and exciting, which is evident in the rest of this section. He will work hard to do it like a woman giving birth. For the image of a woman in childbirth, compare 13.8; 21.3; and 26.17. Bible en français courant renders these two lines as “I will cry out like a woman at the moment of childbirth, who is out of breath and breathes with difficulty.”
Translation examples for this verse are:
• God speaks:
“For a long time I have remained quiet,
keeping still and inactive,
but now I will cry out like a woman giving birth,
I will gasp and pant for air.
• God says:
“I have remained quiet for a long time,
I have been still and determined not to act,
but now I will groan like a woman giving birth,
I will gasp and pant for air.
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 .
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