he feeds on ashes

The Hebrew in Isaiah 44:20 that is translated in English as “he feeds on ashes” is translated in Klao as “Isn’t it like someone eating ashes?” to express the meaning in the context more accurately. (Source: Don Slager)

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The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

Other translations include:

  • San Blas Kuna: “help the heart”
  • Laka: “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “lift out on behalf of”
  • Anuak: “have life because of”
  • Central Mazahua: “be healed in the heart”
  • Baoulé: “save one’s head”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “come out well”
  • Northwestern Dinka: “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida),
  • Matumbi: “rescue (from danger)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Noongar: barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • South Bolivian Quechua: “make to escape”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand” (source for this and one above: Nida 1947, p. 222)
  • Bariai: “retrieve one back” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

See also salvation and save (Japanese honorifics).

complete verse (Isaiah 44:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 44:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “That person is concentrating on/devoted to a thing that shall become mere ashes.
    His evil thoughts have made him get lost.
    That person cannot save himself,
    or understand and ask,
    ‘But that thing in my hand is a useless thing
    and it caused me to get lost.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “This thing in which he trusts is nothing more than ashes!
    His bad thoughts have taken him along a bad way,
    he is not able to deliver himself,
    nor does he say, "What! Isn’t the thing that I have taken in my right hand,
    an image of false gods?"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(It) seems like he had-eaten an ash. His darkened thinking mislead him, and he could- not -save himself. He can- not -accept that the little-god which is with him are not a true god.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 44:20

He feeds on ashes is literally “He is shepherding [or, grazing on] ash.” The meaning of this idiom describing idol makers is uncertain. New International Version and Revised English Bible render this clause in the same way as Revised Standard Version (similarly Good News Translation). But it seems hardly correct to regard the idol maker as the one who is feeding himself since he should provide food and protection for others through the idols he makes. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh provides a better rendering with “He pursues ashes!” (similarly New American Bible), which fits this context of the idol maker being deceived. He is like someone who chases ashes that blow away with the slightest wind (compare Hos 12.1). He tries to do something impossible. Translators should add a footnote here to indicate that the meaning of the Hebrew is unclear. The idea of ashes links this verse back to the “fire” in the previous verse.

A deluded mind has led him astray means the idol maker does things that are unreasonable and illogical because he cannot think straight. New International Version translates “a deluded heart misleads him.” Another possible model is “His foolish ideas mislead him” (similarly Good News Translation).

And he cannot deliver himself: The idol maker is also unable to rescue himself from his twisted way of thinking. He is trapped in his ridiculous ideas about the images he has made. The pronoun himself is literally “his innermost being.”

Or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”: The idol maker is unable to question the value of what he has made. If he were able to do so, he would realize the idol is a fraud. In this context say is better rendered “says to himself” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “think” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “admit to himself” (Good News Translation). Lie is a metaphor for the idol he has made. It is a lie since it is a false god. In my right hand simply means he can hold the idol. There is no special significance for the right hand here, so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has simply “in my hand.” Bible en français courant renders the rhetorical question here as a strong statement, saying “It is evident that what I hold in my hand is nothing but a false god.” For languages that prefer indirect speech here, see Good News Translation and the second example below.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• He chases after what is only ashes, he is led astray by his foolish ideas, and he cannot save himself from them, nor can he admit, “Is this thing in my hand not a fraud?”

• He is like someone pursuing ashes. He is misled by foolish ideas and he is unable to escape from them. He doesn’t even ask whether the thing he is holding is a fraud!

• He is a master of wooden things that turn into ashes. He is fooled by his twisted mind and he cannot escape from it and say to himself: “What I hold here is a pure fraud!”

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 .