complete verse (Isaiah 37:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 37:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those kings threw into a fire those idols that those people were worshipping, because they were things that had only been shaped from wood and stones.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They destroyed the gods of the nations by throwing them into the fire, for they were not gods but only wood and stone made by human hands.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “including their little-gods/false-gods by throwing them into the fire. For these are not true gods but-rather just stones and woods made by man.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “And they have thrown all the idols of those nations into fires and burned them. But they were not really gods. They were only idols made of wood and stone, and that is why they were destroyed easily.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 37:19

And have cast their gods into the fire: When the Assyrian kings demolished the nations around them, they burned up the gods of those nations. The pronoun their refers to the nations. This clause is literally “and have given their gods into the fire.” Revised English Bible has “and have consigned their gods to the flames,” and Good News Translation says simply “and burned up their gods.” In this context gods refers to idols made of wood and stone. In some languages it will be impossible to refer to such idols as gods. If so, gods may be rendered “objects/idols they worshiped as God.”

For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: The connector for introduces the reason why the nations’ gods were burned: they were not real gods, but only man-made objects. Real gods would have been able to protect their worshipers! They were no gods may be rendered “they were not really/truly gods” to avoid a contradiction with the previous clause. The work of men’s hands (see 2.8) may be translated “objects made by human beings.” Idol making could have been men’s work at that time, but not necessarily so. New Century Version has “statues that people made,” and New Jerusalem Bible says “human artefacts.” Wood and stone were the materials from which these so-called gods were made.

Therefore they were destroyed: This is the logical consequence of the nations’ gods not being real gods. This clause is literally “and they destroyed them.” The pronoun “they” refers to the Assyrian kings, while “them” points to the local gods. So this clause may be rendered “so the Assyrian kings destroyed those gods.” For Good News Translation this clause is implied in “burned up their gods.” It may be combined with the first clause by saying “They destroyed their gods by burning them.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• They threw those nations’ gods into fire and destroyed them, because they weren’t real gods, but wood and stone gods made by humans.

• They threw the gods of those countries into fire to get rid of them, since they weren’t proper gods, but only gods the people had made from wood and stone.

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 .