lay waste

In Gbaya, the notion of “lay waste” (or “make waste”) is emphasized with lɔkɔti-lɔkɔti, an ideophone used to describe complete destruction, devastation.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

See also is laid waste and other occurrences of lɔkɔti-lɔkɔti.

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 60:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 60:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “The nations that do not honor you shall be destroyed,
    those nations shall be crushed completely.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you will be destroyed.
    They will be utterly destroyed.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “For the nations or kingdoms that will- not -serve you (sing.) will- surely -be-destroyed completely.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 60:12

The theme of foreign nations serving Judah, developed in verses 10-11, continues here. In Masoretic Text this verse is in prose (so Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant) rather than in poetry, so some commentators suggest it is a later insertion. However, this suggestion about the date of the verse has no relevance for the translator, whether it has merit or not.

The Hebrew particle ki rendered For is not a logical connector here, but an emphatic marker, so it is better rendered “Indeed.” Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch use the conjunction “But.”

The nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish promises the complete destruction of the foreign nations that are not subservient to Judah. The nation and kingdom refers to all nations and kingdoms known to Judah. Good News Translation combines these two terms into “nations.” The Hebrew verb rendered serve is the common one that refers to service or slavery. Not only will the foreign nations bring gifts to the people of Judah (verses 5-7), they will also serve them. If they refuse to do so, they shall perish, that is, they will be destroyed.

Those nations shall be utterly laid waste is parallel to the previous two lines. Those nations is literally “the nations,” but it is clear that the nations just mentioned are in view. Shall be utterly laid waste is literally “laying waste they will be laid waste,” which means they will be completely destroyed/devastated. In the Hebrew the verb is repeated (first as an infinitive and then as a finite verb) for emphasis. For the verb laid waste, see the comments on 37.18.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Indeed, any nation or kingdom that will not serve you will be destroyed; those nations will be completely devastated.

• Nations may refuse to serve you,
but truly, they will be destroyed;
such nations will be wiped out.

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 .