Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 37:28:
Kupsabiny: “But I know how your life is, when you go out and when you return home. I know even the bitterness that you have for/against me.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “I have seen you going hither and thither, I know that you have spoken out with anger. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘But I know all about you (sing.), where you (sing.) stay, or where you (sing.) come-from or go, and how you (sing.) get-angry/rage against me.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But I know everything about you; I know when you are in your house and when you go outside; I also know that you are raging/speaking very angrily against me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
This verse begins with the common Hebrew conjunction. Here it introduces a contrast with the previous two verses. Even though it was God’s will for Sennacherib to destroy fortified cities, he will punish him for doing it because of his arrogance. Good News Translation, New International Version, and New Jerusalem Bible use the connector “But” to express this contrast. Like Revised Standard Version, many versions leave it implied.
I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in: On the basis of evidence from Dead Sea Scrolls, this verse probably begins with a word meaning “your rising up” (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). If so, there are two pairs of expressions here: “rising up” and sitting down, going out and coming in. These word pairs are common in Hebrew, referring figuratively to everything a person does. So Yahweh knows everything about Sennacherib. Good News Translation expresses this all-inclusive statement well: “I know everything about you, what you do and where you go.” Other translations preserve the literal references to standing up and sitting, coming and going; for example, Bible en français courant has “I know all about you: when you get up or when you sit down, when you go out or when you enter.” However, this may not be natural or properly understood in many languages. The verb for know occurs at the end of these two lines in Hebrew, so it is emphatic. New Jerusalem Bible preserves this emphasis by saying, “whether you stand up or sit down, whether you go out or come in, I know it.” The repetition of the pronoun your emphasizes the whole statement.
And your raging against me refers to the loud, arrogant claims that Sennacherib made in opposition to Yahweh. The word raging in English generally implies some form of an angry, violent outburst. However, the context here suggests that the Assyrian king is more arrogant than angry. New Jerusalem Bible uses the word “rave” (that is, to talk wildly and irrationally), which is a better choice for the Hebrew word here.
Revised English Bible omits this last line, and New Jerusalem Bible places it between parentheses. Some commentators believe it should be omitted because it is repeated in the first line of the next verse. The Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts omit it in verse 29, but not here. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project strongly recommends keeping it in both verses, so translators should not delete it in either verse.
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• “But I know everything you do and everywhere you go,
and your raving against me.
• “Your rising and sitting, your coming and going,
and your raving against me, all this I know.
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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