14He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “stumbling-stone” or “stone that makes them stumble” in English had to be translated carefully in Chol. John Beekman (in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 180ff. ) explains: “When translating for the Chols, the translator was aware that the phrase ‘stone of stumbling’ could refer to a specific stone found on the trail to the town of Ococingo, Chiapas, Mexico. Those who came to this rock with aching muscles from long hours of weary walking with heavy loads believed that by striking their foot against this rock they would be strengthened for the remainder of the trip and would not stumble along the way. It therefore became important to translate these two passages avoiding any ambiguity as to whether this rock prevented or occasioned stumbling.”
The now commonly-used German idiom Stein des Anstoßes (literally “stumbling-stone”) was coined in 1534 in the German Bible translation by Martin Luther. It is now widely used as “bone of contention” or “stumbling block.” (Source: Günther 2017, p. 108) For other idioms or terms in German that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
In Latvian, the phrase piedauzības akmens or “stone of abuse” has become part of the standard lexicon with the meaning of “disgrace,” goes back to the 1682 New Testament translation by Ernst Glück (source: Pēteris Vanags in Glück’s landmark translation of the Bible into Latvian ).
The now commonly-used German expression Fallstrick for “snare,” but today only used in German in the sense to cause someone to stumble (“jemandem einen Fallstick legen”), was first coined in 1534 in the German Bible translation by Martin Luther. (Source: Günther 2017, p. 65)
For other idioms or terms in German that were coined by Bible translation, see here.
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “sanctuary” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with opatulika or “separated place.” This is understood in a religious setup as a place designated for worship. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 8:14:
Kupsabiny: “God is a house of life for righteous people. But he is a stone that that makes (people) stumble/fall and make people crash/fall. He will cause the people of Israel and Judah to fall, and (he is) a snare that catches the people of Jerusalem.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “He will be in the place where you live, but as for Israel, Judah and Jerusalem, he will be a rock. and people will stumble on that rock and fall down. He will be like a trap to capture them,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-be your (plur.) place-of-refuge. But for Israel and Juda, I am like a rock that causes- (them) -to-stumble and makes- them -fall, and for the people of Jerusalem, I am like a trap/snare.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will protect you(sg). But as for the other people in Israel and Judah, I will be like a stone that causes people to stumble, a rock that causes them to fall down. And as for the people of Jerusalem, I will be like a trap or a snare.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
And he will become a sanctuary: For the people of Judah who turn to Yahweh the holy one he will be their sanctuary or safe place. There is a play-on-words here in Hebrew since the word for sanctuary (literally “holy place”) comes from the same root as the verb rendered “regard as holy” in the previous verse. Since the following nouns that describe Yahweh are negative, some scholars have suggested that sanctuary be changed to read “conspiracy” (as in verse 12) or “snare.” For this clause Revised English Bible has “He will become a snare” (similarly New American Bible). The roots of the words sanctuary, “conspiracy,” and “snare” are somewhat similar in Hebrew. But Hebrew Old Testament Text Project is firmly in favor of Masoretic Text as it stands, so it should not be changed. For the present Hebrew text to make good sense, we need to recognize that this verse moves from a positive description of Yahweh (a sanctuary) to negative ones. Bible en français courant (1997) does this smoothly for the first half of this verse with “he can be a place of refuge, but he can also be a stone against which people collide, the rock that makes people fall.”
And a stone of offense, and a rock of stumbling: Both figures here carry a negative sense. These metaphors and the following ones express what Yahweh will become to those who do not “fear” him. Stone and rock are usually positive images for Yahweh (see, for example, 26.4; 1 Sam 2.2; 2 Sam 22.47; Psa 18.2). Here, however, they refer to objects that cause a person to stumble and fall since they are called a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling. So Yahweh as the rock and stone will cause people to fall. For these two metaphors New Jerusalem Bible has “a stumbling-stone, a rock to trip up,” and Revised English Bible says “an obstacle, and a rock against which … will strike and stumble.” In some languages it may be necessary to use similes here to keep the images of stone and rock; for example, “The LORD will be like a rock or stone that causes people to stumble.”
To both houses of Israel refers to the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. For the use of the word house, referring to a nation, see 5.7.
A trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Other passages that use both trap and snare are Josh 23.13 and Psa 69.22. These two nouns, used in combination, express forcefully what Yahweh will become to those who refuse to follow him. Isaiah uses four images to represent the dangers the people face. This is another example of where he has four similar expressions to emphasize a point. Since this is an important part of Isaiah’s style, it should be kept in translation if possible. However, translators may collapse two terms into one, if repetition of this type is not appropriate, or if only one word is available. The emphasis can be expressed in some other way. Good News Translation combines trap and snare, as well as stone and rock.
Strictly speaking, the trap and the snare only threaten the inhabitants of Jerusalem (literally “inhabitant of Jerusalem,” which is a collective reference to the whole population of Jerusalem). Although the prophet speaks of the people of Jerusalem rather than the people of both kingdoms, his focus is not only on Jerusalem. Jerusalem probably is parallel to both houses of Israel. This may explain the Good News Translation‘s rearrangement of the contents of this verse.
Translation examples for this verse are:
• Yahweh will be your sanctuary; but he will also be like a stone causing both houses of Israel to fall, like a rock making them stumble, a trap and snare to those in Jerusalem.
• Yahweh will become your holy place; but also he will be the stone or rock that causes Israel and Judah to fall, a trap to the people of Jerusalem.
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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