Hezekiah’s Health Lost and Found: Isaiah 38:9-20: Introduction

Isaiah 38:9-20 is not a prayer per se, but the account of a prayer and of an answer to the prayer, and of a commitment to praise God forever in response to divine healing. In a previous post, I provided a straight-up translation of MT. The result included unintelligible phrases and expressions that are improbable in context.

In a forthcoming post – this post serves as an introduction - I offer another scansion and translation of Isaiah 38:9-20. As is the case with a number of translations – for example, NJPSV, NRSV, REB, NAB, NJB, and NET - an emended version of the received text is the point of departure for translation. On the basis of text-critical reasoning and extant ancient witnesses, the text is restored to a more pristine state in places where the traditional text seems to have suffered wear and tear. The stichographic arrangement and lineation of the restored text coincides, in most cases, with that proposed by Joachim Begrich, and replicated, with some modifications, in BHS and HET. Stichographic arrangement of 38:10-20 has a tradition of scholarship behind it, but it must be emphasized: the text’s stichography must be inferred. It cannot be obtained except by setting aside the masoretic prosodic-syntactic parse.

In short, as is the case with all translations, the prosodic-syntactic division implied by the “accents” contained in MT is not always followed. In my formatting of the Hebrew text, as will be seen, departures are marked with a circulus. The subdivision of the text into lines with one to two medial caesurae and into groups of two to three lines is in accord with a working hypothesis regarding the prosody of ancient Hebrew prosody. On this hypothesis, lines are composed of two to three part-lines each of which contains two to three prosodic words. Departures from the consonantal text or vocalization thereof are marked by footnotes.

It has become standard practice in modern translations to lineate text thought to be poetry in the Hebrew Bible according to a – usually unstated - working hypothesis. The practice marks an advance over the practice of earlier translations which formatted poetry as if it were prose. On the other hand, in a preface, it would be appropriate if the practice were pointed out, a frank admission of the fact that this involves going against the traditional phrasing of the text in numerous cases added thereto, along with a brief description of the working hypothesis adopted with respect to the workings of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic poetry according to which the translation lineates poetry. Hence the preceding paragraph.

Now, suppose that you are not interested in a translation of Isa 38:9-20 from the Hebrew that messes with the received text on multiple levels. Is there a Bible on the market that satisfies your request? Not really. Your best bet is to go with a translation like NASB95, ESV, or HCSB. These translations, more than others on the market today, seek to adhere to the masoretic text with consistency and imitate a wide variety of its features in translation. It is, however, worth pointing out that a transliterating adherence to the syntax of the source text and an overweening commitment to internal concordance create as many problems as they solve.

Comments

[Jin]

Dear John,
I look forward to seeing another scansion and translation of Isa 38:9-20.