NIV 2011 Isaiah 19:16 is a Weak Translation

    Doug Magnum of Biblia Hebraica is not happy with claims NIV 2011 makes for itself. NIV promotes itself as being "easy to understand, yet rich with the detail found in the original Scripture." Magnum counters:

It's as easy to understand as most moderately idiomatic English translations. But I don't understand how they can claim, in all seriousness, to be "rich with the detail found in the original Scripture." The gender-sensitive issue forces a translation that completely suppresses the rich metaphorical detail of the Hebrew in Isaiah 19:16. 

    I’m willing to credit NIV 2011 with being easy to understand – even when it shouldn’t be – and with being rich in detail derived from translated text. Still, Doug made me curious. How then does NIV render Isa 19:16? Magnum is right: NIV 2011 at Isa 19:16 engages in suppression.

    The Hebrew:

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא         יִהְיֶה מִצְרַיִם כַּנָּשִׁים

וְחָרַד וּפָחַד        מִפְּנֵי תְּנוּפַת יַד־יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

                       אֲשֶׁר־הוּא מֵנִיף עָלָיו׃

    NIV 2011 (formatting is mine):

In that day                            the Egyptians will become weaklings.
They will shudder with fear    at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty
                                            raises against them.

    A more literal translation, my own:

On that day                            the people of Egypt will become like women.
They will tremble and panic    at the waving of the hand of יהוה of Armies,
                                            the one he is going to wave over them.  

    NIV 2011, it seems to me, is unfortunate at Isa 19:16. Texts that make use of metaphorical frames are often characterized by development. It is important to capture it in translation. Snapshot 1: The people of Egypt will become like women. Like women In what sense? One must wait for an answer. Perhaps Egypt will be in labor and give birth. Perhaps Egypt will dance. Snapshot 2: Egypt will tremble and panic.

    Egypt will not become a nation of weaklings. Rather, Egypt will become like women who panic at the sign of trouble. “Weak as women” (NLT) sounds nice in English; the politically correct "weaklings" (NIV) sounds even better; but, to quote Jorge Luis Borges, the original is unfaithful to the translation.

    Peterson's The Message (the formatting is mine; it is designed to facilitate a visual comparison with translations cited above):

On that Day,                         Egyptians will be like hysterical schoolgirls,
Screaming                            at the first hint of action from God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

    The paraphrase curtails and restructures the whole and takes great liberties with diction. The advantage is comprehensibility. The disadvantage: it is not a translation so much as a riff on a base text. There are no schoolgirls in the Hebrew. There are women who dread what is coming next.

    The departures of NIV and The Message from the Hebrew will not matter to readers who believe that the inspiration of an author, biblical, classical, or otherwise, is not verbal in nature, not even thought by thought, but something blob-like, reshapable at will. But what if you want to know what the Hebrew actually says? If you don’t know Hebrew, your best bet is to read the Bible in a literal translation. NASB is remarkably good at Isa 19:16:

In that day                            the Egyptians will become like women,
and they will tremble and be in dread    of the waving of the hand of the LORD of Hosts,
                                            which he is going to wave over them. 

Comments

[Simon Holloway]

I cannot help but see certain parallels to the ritual of the sotah in Numbers 5. There, too, one must presume a certain fear on the part of an unfaithful woman who, between making an oath and drinking twice, witnesses the priest "wave" the offering of jealousy before the Lord.

While likening a nation to an unfaithful woman is par for the course when the nation is Israel, Isaiah does demonstrate elsewhere a supposition that the Egyptians (and Assyrians) are potentially righteous and God-fearing, and that they will be again. If this is a harlot metaphor it is well-placed.

[Simon Holloway]

Oh, and as for the NIV: you are preaching to the choir :) I only keep a copy so that I can justify not looking at it.

[JohnFH]

Hi Simon,

Interesting comparison. I am more inclined to read this passage in light of another in Isaiah, 11:15-16. In both cases, YHWH waves his hand over something, and then something happens, or one expects things to happen.

A priest who waves an offering - that seems less relevant.

I expect that there are passages in which NIV is superior to all other competitors. But I admit I cannot think of any examples offhand.

[Ben Smith]

I think the 'Message' is best for a straight forward read-through of the gospels - it captures a sort of manic energy about Jesus that I appreciate. Apart from that, though, it just makes the tone of the whole Bible sound like Eugene Peterson and not the individual authors.

[Simon Holloway]

Your analogy is superior to mine. I fear that I have my head buried so deep in halakhic midrash at the moment that I am losing my ability to see the text before me! As for the NIV, I don't mind a good dynamic equivalence translation from time to time (think Jerusalem Bible), but if they're going to deviate from the literal sense of the Hebrew then it better be a good read. NIV, to my mind, is an awful translation: it reads like a faithful translation of *something*, but doesn't seem to be a faithful translation of anything. I would be most interested if there is a passage, somewhere, in which they inadvertently struck upon gold.

[Matthew Hamilton]

I do not know where I stand on the "gender-inclusive" issues. On the one hand, the misuse of the literal translations has led to oppression and mistreating of women. I do think, however, that if one is going to view women in that manner, it does not matter what translation of the bible they use.

For those seeking to read the bible for spiritual growth, I see no problem with the NIV or Message - understanding the Egyptians as weak or as schoolgirls will not affect an individual's spiritual growth.

As far as study, I use the original languages, so that doesn't come in to play for me. For those who don't use the original languages, a literal translation should be required.

[JohnFH]

Very good points, Matthew.

Now that non-literal translations are becoming fashionable, rest assured: they too will be abused by some, and in more than one way.

[Gary Simmons]

In my experience, the only thing that makes schoolgirls hysterical is an N*SYNC concert. That would be the first thing that comes to mind reading that text, if I didn't know the Hebrew.