inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Isa 64:6)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Lord.

righteous, righteousness

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The Greek, Hebrew, and Latin terms that are translated in English mostly as “righteous” as an adjective or personified noun or “righteousness” (also as “upright(ness)” and “just(ice)”) are most commonly expressed with concept of “straightness,” though this may be expressed in a number of ways. (Click or tap here to see the details)

Following is a list of (back-) translations of various languages:

  • Bambara, Southern Bobo Madaré, Chokwe (ululi), Amganad Ifugao, Chol, Eastern Maninkakan, Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona, Batak Toba, Bilua, Tiv: “be straight”
  • Laka: “follow the straight way” or “to straight-straight” (a reduplicated form for emphasis)
  • Sayula Popoluca: “walk straight”
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Kekchí, Muna: “have a straight heart”
  • Kipsigis: “do the truth”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “do according to the truth”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “have truth”
  • Yine: “fulfill what one should do”
  • Indonesian: “be true”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “do just so”
  • Anuak: “do as it should be”
  • Mossi: “have a white stomach” (see also happiness / joy)
  • Paasaal: “white heart” (source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
  • (San Mateo del Mar Huave: “completely good” (the translation does not imply sinless perfection)
  • Nuer: “way of right” (“there is a complex concept of “right” vs. ‘left’ in Nuer where ‘right’ indicates that which is masculine, strong, good, and moral, and ‘left’ denotes what is feminine, weak, and sinful (a strictly masculine viewpoint!) The ‘way of right’ is therefore righteousness, but of course women may also attain this way, for the opposition is more classificatory than descriptive.”) (This and all above from Bratcher / Nida except for Bilua: Carl Gross; Tiv: Rob Koops; Muna: René van den Berg)
  • Central Subanen: “wise-good” (source: Robert Brichoux in OPTAT 1988/2, p. 80ff. )
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “live well”
  • Mezquital Otomi: “goodness before the face of God” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl: “the result of heart-straightening” (source: Nida 1947, p. 224)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “entirely good” (when referred to God), “do good” or “not be a debtor as God sees one” (when referred to people)
  • Carib: “level”
  • Tzotzil: “straight-hearted”
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “right and straight”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “walk straight” (source for this and four previous: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22)
  • Makonde: “doing what God wants” (in a context of us doing) and “be good in God’s eyes” (in the context of being made righteous by God) (note that justify / justification is translated as “to be made good in the eyes of God.” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Aari: The Pauline word for “righteous” is generally rendered by “makes one without sin” in the Aari, sometimes “before God” is added for clarity. (Source: Loren Bliese)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “having sin taken away” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 144)
  • Nyamwezi: wa lole: “just” or “someone who follows the law of God” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Venda: “nothing wrong, OK” (Source: J.A. van Roy in The Bible Translator 1972, p. 418ff. )
  • Ekari: maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (the same word that is also used for “truth“; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
  • Guhu-Samane: pobi or “right” (also: “right (side),” “(legal) right,” “straightness,” “correction,” “south,” “possession,” “pertinence,” “kingdom,” “fame,” “information,” or “speech” — “According to [Guhu-Samane] thinking there is a common core of meaning among all these glosses. Even from an English point of view the first five can be seen to be closely related, simply because of their similarity in English. However, from that point the nuances of meaning are not so apparent. They relate in some such a fashion as this: As one faces the morning sun, south lies to the right hand (as north lies to the left); then at one’s right hand are his possessions and whatever pertains to him; thus, a rich man’s many possessions and scope of power and influence is his kingdom; so, the rich and other important people encounter fame; and all of this spreads as information and forms most of the framework of the people’s speech.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in Notes on Translation 1964, p. 11ff.)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Gerechtheit, a neologism to differentiate it from the commonly-used Gerechtigkeit which can mean “righteousness” but is more often used in modern German as “fairness” (Berger / Nord especially use Gerechtheit in Letter to the Romans) or Gerechtestun, also a neologism, meaning “righteous deeds” (especially in Letter to the Ephesians)
  • “did what he should” (Eastern Highland Otomi)
  • “a clear man, good [man]” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)

See also respectable, righteous, righteous (person), devout, and She is more in the right(eous) than I.

complete verse (Isaiah 64:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 64:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “We are all like a person who is not clean/holy.
    All our deeds stink even though we think (they are) good.
    We are all like dried leaves
    and our mistakes push/sweep us (away) like the wind.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “We have all become like impure people,
    and all our works of righteousness are like the cloth of the time when it is not OK to touch
    We are all like shriveled up leaves
    and our sin blows us away like the wind.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “All of us (excl.) became like a dirty thing, and all of our (excl.) good deeds as-if are just like a dirty cloth. All of us (excl.) are like the leaves which withered, and our (excl.) wickedness are like the wind which blow- us (excl.) -away.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 64:6

The people continue their confession with four similes. The first two use examples of uncleanness, while the second two use examples from nature: leaves and wind. The first and the third lines describe the people, the second and the fourth ones depict their actions.

We have all become like one who is unclean means the whole community has become like a person who is ritually unfit to worship God. There is a break in their relationship with God. For the idea of unclean, see the comments on 6.5. Good News Translation does not retain the simile here, but opts for a rendering that states why the people compare themselves to an unclean person, namely, because of their sins. This may be a valid option in languages where the religious sense of the term unclean would not be immediately clear. Bible en français courant (1997) maintains the simile but also explains it by rendering this line as “We are all unfit for your service, like an unclean object.”

And all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment compares all the people’s good deeds with bloodstained clothing. The Hebrew word rendered polluted occurs only here in the Old Testament. It refers to menstrual blood. In Old Testament culture this blood made a woman “unclean,” not in a sanitary sense, but in a ritual sense. The language of this simile was intended to shock its readers. It stresses that even their attempts at goodness fail and cannot restore their relationship with God. Bible en français courant (1997) has “and all our fine actions are as disgusting as a piece of cloth stained with blood.” Good News Translation removes the simile, saying more directly “even our best actions are filthy through and through.”

We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away: In these two lines the people compare themselves to a leaf that withers, and their sins to the wind that blows them away. Their sins cause their downfall. We all is repeated to emphasize that the whole community is involved in sinful activities. The Hebrew verb rendered fade, applied to leaves, means that they wither and fall from the tree (see 1.30, where it is translated “withers”). For iniquities see the comments on 1.4 and 40.2. Good News Translation modifies the similes in these two lines slightly. It keeps the comparison with leaves and the wind, but makes it explicit that sins are the cause of the community’s downfall. Bible en français courant stays closer to the Hebrew with “Our faults carry us all away like dead leaves swept away by the wind.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• We are all like unclean persons,
even our good deeds are like a stained garment.
We all wither like a leaf,
our sins carry us away just as the wind blows things.

• We are all like soiled people,
even the good we do is like nothing but dirty clothing.
Just as leaves wither and fall, so do we;
just as the wind blows away fallen leaves, so our sins carry us away.

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 .