hungry

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English as “hungry” (or: “famished”) is translated in a number of ways:

  • Noongar: “without stomach” (koborl-wirt) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Kölsch translation (Boch 2017): nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” and singe Mage hät geknottert wie ne Hungk or “his stomach growled like a dog” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Hunger überfiel ihn or “Hunger overtook (lit.: “attacked”) him” (in Matthew 4:2)
  • Kupsabiny: “hunger ate him” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Mairasi: “feeling tuber pains” (tubers are the main staple) (source Enggavoter 2004)

complete verse (Isaiah 58:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 58:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “Give the people who are hungry something to eat,
    and help those who are suffering.
    Then again, I shall bless you so you shine where there is darkness,
    and your faces shall shine for others
    like the sun during daytime.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “If from your inner heart you give for those who do not get to eat,
    and if [you] supply [lit.: fulfill] the lack for someone to whom injustice has happened,
    your light will become like sunlight in a dark place,
    and even the time of midnight will like in the daytime.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “and if you (plur.) will-feed the ones who-are-hungry and will-give the poor ones their needs, salvation will-come to you (plur.) which will-give-light to your (plur.) dark situation as a noonday.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Give food to those who are hungry,
    and give to people who are afflicted/suffering the things that they need.
    Your doing that will be like a light that shines in the darkness;
    instead of doing evil to people , the good things that you do for them will be like sunshine at noontime.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 58:10

The first two lines of this verse continue with conditional clauses that began in the last half of the previous verse, dealing with the theme of caring for the less fortunate members of the community. Verses 10b-12 give the results of these conditions (see the introductory comments on this subsection [58.9b-12] for the structure here).

If you pour yourself out for the hungry calls on the people to truly provide for the needs of the hungry, as in verse 7. The Hebrew expression rendered pour yourself out is literally “offer your life/being [nephesh in Hebrew].” It implies a high degree of self-sacrifice. Good News Translation does not express it well by saying simply “give food.” Translators should at least say “give your own food” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant). For this line New International Version conveys the thrust of the Hebrew well with “and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry,” and so does New Jerusalem Bible with “if you deprive yourself for the hungry.”

And satisfy the desire of the afflicted is a further condition. The people should not just help those who are suffering but fully meet their needs, so that they are satisfied. Doing so will bring an end to their suffering. The Hebrew word for desire is nephesh, the same word used in the previous line. Here it probably has the slightly unusual sense of “throat,” which is a metaphor for a person’s needs in this context. The Hebrew word rendered afflicted comes from the same root as the word for “poor” in verse 7. It refers to someone who is poor, weak, sick, and helpless (see the comments on 3.14, where it is translated “poor”). For New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh and Bible en français courant this line still speaks of satisfying the hunger of the poor. We recommend a more general translation; for example, New Revised Standard Version says “and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,” and Good News Translation has “and satisfy those who are in need.”

If the five conditions given in verses 9b-10a are met, then the happy results will be many (verses 10b-12). The connector then (literally “and”) introduces the result clauses. In translation it may be helpful to mark this as a point of transition by using a distinctive linguistic marker or even special formatting, such as ending the last condition with a long dash, and beginning verse 10b with “If you do all that, then….”

Shall your light rise in the darkness is very similar to the promise in the first line of verse 8 (see the comments there). When the people show a concern for those in need, it will be an example that will shine like light in darkness. As in verse 8, your light is a metaphor for their exemplary acts of kindness. The Hebrew verb for rise is used elsewhere of the sun rising, driving away the darkness (see, for example, Psa 104.22; Eccl 1.5). If readers understand the imagery in this clause literally, an alternative model is “you will be like light that chases away the darkness in which you live” (similarly Bible en français courant).

And your gloom be as the noonday reverses the imagery of the previous line: the people’s darkness will turn into extremely bright light (compare Job 11.17). The Hebrew noun for gloom refers to a time of day when there is either failing light or complete darkness. It can be used as a metaphor for a disaster, but here your gloom is probably an image for the evil and dark deeds of the people, which will turn into “light” when they are put aside. The Hebrew word for noonday refers to the time of day when the light is brightest.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• … if you selflessly provide for the hungry,
and if you meet the needs of those who suffer,
then your light will shine in the darkness,
and your darkness be like the noonday sun.

• … if you truly give the hungry what they need,
and if you do all you can for those who suffer,
then you will be like lights in the darkness,
and your darkness be as bright as the sun at noon.

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 .