Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 38:12:
Kupsabiny: “My life has been uprooted to end there. I have folded my life like the tent/shelter of a shepherd. I am like a granary that has been plaited and is abandoned before it is finished. I was thinking that you might destroy me, take me out from the light and put me in darkness.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Like a shepherd’s tent thrown down, my life has been taken from me. My life had been rolled up like from cloth from one who weaves [on a] loom. and he has cut me from the loom. All day and all night you brought my life to an end.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “My life has almost been lost like a tent of the one-who-watches-over the sheep which has-been-blown-away. I thought my life will- now -be-cut-off like a cloth that has-been-cut-off from the loom. From morning to evening, I waited that you (sing.) are now to end-up my life.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “It is as if my life has been taken away like a tent whose pegs have been pulled up by a shepherd and taken away. My time to live has been cut short, like a piece of cloth that a weaver cuts and rolls up after he has finished weaving a cloth.’ Suddenly, it seemed that my life was ending.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.
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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.
Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”
In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.
Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).
In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.
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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, chikazuke-rare-ru (近づけられる) or “make near” and tachiki-rare-ru (断ち切られる) or “cut off” are used.
My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent: This is a simile in which Hezekiah pictures his life being removed like a shepherd taking down his tent. New International Version translates “Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me.” My dwelling (New Jerusalem Bible “My home”) is literally “My generation.” It is probably is a figure of speech for Hezekiah’s life in this context, so Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version say “My life.” It is parallel with my life in the third line. Plucked up refers to pulling up tent pegs, while removed points to packing up the tent. In some languages it may be necessary to render these passive verbs as active ones. If so, an alternative model for these two lines is “God had removed my dwelling/life from me like a shepherd who pulls up the pegs of his tent and packs it.” For tent see the comments on 13.20 and 33.20.
Like a weaver I have rolled up my life: This is another simile. Here Hezekiah compares his life to the way in which a weaver rolls up the cloth he has finished weaving. Revised English Bible changes this to “you have rolled up my life like a weaver,” but both Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and de~Waard recommend keeping the Hebrew text. Translators may expand this line by saying “Like a person who weaves cloth and who rolls it up [or, folds it up] when he has finished, in the same way I had rolled up [or, folded up] my life.” This imagery does not suggest suicide since the rest of the verse makes it clear that God was bringing Hezekiah’s life to an end.
He cuts me off from the loom is another image for Hezekiah’s imminent death. He was like a piece of cloth cut off from a loom. A loom is a device on which someone weaves a piece of cloth. The pronoun he may refer to God (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) or the weaver (so Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant). Contemporary English Version says “You cut me off like thread from a weaver’s loom.” Bible en français courant renders this line and the previous one as “My life is at the end of the roller like a piece of cloth that the weaver rolls up after cutting the threads.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) uses a passive verb here to avoid identifying the pronoun: “now it [my life] is being cut off from the loom.” Since the pronoun he may refer to God or the weaver, possible alternative models for this line are “God [or, the weaver] cut me off from the loom” and “[Like finished cloth] I was cut off from the loom.”
From day to night thou dost bring me to an end: Modern versions vary in the way they render this line since the Hebrew here is unclear. The phrase from day to night means “constantly.” New International Version translates it as “day and night,” but Good News Translation leaves it implied. The pronoun thou refers to God. Translators may make this explicit by saying “you, LORD.” If the pronoun he in the previous line also refers to God, then there is a sudden change in pronoun reference, but this is typical of Hebrew poetry. Thou dost bring me to an end refers to God ending Hezekiah’s life. The Hebrew verb here means “to bring to completion.” Revised English Bible renders it “torment,” which fits the context, but translators should not follow this. For Good News Translation this line expresses an impression that the king had: “I thought God was ending my life” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
In verses 12-14 Revised Standard Version uses present tense while Good News Translation has the past. The choice of tense depends on whether Hezekiah is praying while he is sick (present tense) or after he has been healed (past tense). The Hebrew grammar supports either tense here. Like most scholars, we prefer the past tense. Hezekiah is describing his past suffering.
Translation examples for this verse are:
• My home [or, life] was taken up and packed away like a shepherd’s tent.
I rolled up my life like a weaver does with a piece of cloth.
I was cut off as cloth from the loom.
The LORD brought me to an end constantly.
• Like a shepherd’s tent is pulled up and taken away, so was my home.
Like a weaver rolling up cloth cut from the loom, so I rolled up my life.
Day in [and] day out God made an end of me.
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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