Isaiah 54:1 opens with two words in stark contrast: A command to “rejoice” followed immediately by “barren woman.” Rejoicing represents one extreme of the emotional spectrum, while “barren woman” embodies the other.
In the fall I promised an “Isaiah translation challenge” — a collective approach to understanding and translating the exquisite poetry of Isaiah 54. I’m pleased to announce that it’s here. My next post is a detailed analysis of the text of Isaiah 54:1, written with an eye toward guiding poets and translators. I hope you’ll…
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Translators and poets, get ready! Now that I’ve submitted my second book manuscript to St. Martin’s Press, I’m looking forward to spending more time here. As part of my return, in the next little while I’m going to announce a project to translate Isaiah 54 collectively. Some of the most moving words ever penned, in…
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Polycarp asks on the About page how “wonderful, counselor” of Isaiah 9:5 (9:6) should be translated. It’s a difficult question with a longer than usual answer. But here goes. As with “Prince of Peace,” we assume that the title “wonderful, counselor” — whatever it means — describes God after whom the child in Isaiah 9…
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In a recent discussion here, Paula asks about where the line is drawn between “translation” and what I called “explanation.” It’s a really important question. I don’t think I have an answer in terms of definitions, but I have a few examples, starting with just English. (It’s helpful to look at English to English “translations”…
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