1849.] Translation of Isaiah Thirteenth and Fourteenth. 765 ed either by intercalating a vowel or by displacing the consonants themselves; finally, the rougher consonants are proportionally rare, whilst the softer ones are frequent. It is especially adapted for versification; and though the Galla poetry is otherwise very poor, rhyme is so much cultivated, that it occurs not only at the end of lines, but also frequently in the middle, and even at the end of every foot. As might be concluded from what we have stated of the language, the objective element greatly predominates. The Galla abounds in words descriptive of impressions from without, whilst there are few terms that mark the processes of the intellect, or denote the results of reflection. ARTICLE VIII. TRANSLATION OF THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CHAPTERS OF ISAIAH, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES. XIII. By Prof. B. B. Edwards. Translation. 1. Sentence against Babylon, which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw. 2. On the mountain bare, lift up the banner! Wave the hand; That they may enter the gates of the tyrants. 3. I have given command to my consecrated ones, Also I have summoned my mighty ones, to [execute] my anger, My proud exulters. 4. The voice of a multitude on the mountains, As of a people great, The voice of the tumult of kingdoms, nations gathered together; Jehovah of hosts mustereth the armies for battle. 5. They come from a country afar, From the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the weapons of his indignation, To destroy the whole land. 6. Howl! for near is the day of Jehovah, As a destruction from the Almighty it cometh. 7. Therefore all hands are faint, And every heart of man melteth. 8. And they are confounded; Throes and writhings take hold of them, As a woman that travaileth, they are in pangs; Faces of flames their faces. 9. Lo! the day of Jehovah cometh, Terrible, with wrath, and the burning of anger, And her sinners he shall destroy out of her. 10. For the stars of the heaven and their constellations Shall not give their light, Darkened the sun in his going forth, And the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11. And I will visit on the world its wickedness, And on sinners their iniquity; And I will cause to cease the arrogancy of the proud, And the haughtiness of the violent, I will lay low; 12. Rarer will I make men than fine gold, And men than the gold of Ophir. 13. Therefore, the heavens I will shake, And tremble shall the earth from her place, In the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, And in the day of the burning of his anger. 14. Then as a gazelle chased, And as sheep that no one gathereth, Each to his people shall turn, And each to his own land shall flee. 15. Every one that is found shall be thrust through, And every one scraped together, shall fall by the sword; 16. Their children shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes, Rifled shall be their houses, And their wives shall be ravished.. 17. Lo! I will stir up against them the Medes, Who silver do not regard, And gold they do not delight in it; 18. And their bows shall dash in pieces the young men, And the fruit of the womb, they shall not pity, Children their eye shall not spare. 1849.] Translation of Isaiah Thirteenth and Fourteenth. 19. Thus Babylon, the gazelle of kingdoms, The beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans, 767 Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ; 20. It shall not be inhabited forever, It shall not be dwelt in from generation to generation, And shepherds shall not cause their flocks to lie down there. And the daughters of the ostrich shall dwell there, 22. And jackals shall howl in their palaces, And her days shall not be prolonged. XIV. 1. For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, And will yet delight in Israel, And set them in their own land, And the strangers shall be joined to them, And shall add themselves to the house of Jacob; 2. And the nations shall take them, And bring them to their place; And the house of Israel shall possess them, In the land of Jehovah, for servants and for handmaids; And they shall capture their captors, And shall rule over their oppressors. 3. And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah giveth rest to thee, From thy pain and from thy sorrow, And from the hard bondage With which thou wast made to serve, 4. Then thou shalt take up this song Against the king of Babylon, and say: "How ceaseth the oppressor! At an end the exactress of gold! 5. Jehovah hath broken the rod of the wicked, 6. That smote the nations in wrath, Strokes without intermission, 7. At rest and in quiet is the whole earth, They break forth into singing. 8. Also the fir trees rejoice over thee, The cedars of Lebanon; 'Since thou art laid low, There has not come up the feller against us.' 9. Sheol from beneath is moved for thee, To meet thee at thy coming; It stirreth up for thee the ghosts, All the mighty of the earth, It raiseth up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10. They all answer and say unto thee: 'Art thou also weak as we ? To us art thou become like?' 11. Brought down to Sheol is thy pomp, Under thee is spread out the worm, 12. How art thou fallen from heaven! 13. But thou saidst in thy heart: 'The heavens I will ascend, Above the stars of God I will raise my throne, 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 15. Surely to Sheol art thou brought down, To the recesses of the pit. 16. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon Thee they shall consider [and say]: 'Is this the man that shook the earth, That caused the nations to quake? 17. That made the world like the wilderness? And its cities overthrew ? His prisoners he sent not homeward.' 18. All the kings of the nations, All of them lie in glory, Each in his house, 19. But thou art cast away from thy sepulchre, thee i 1849.] Subject of the Passage. Like an abominable branch, Clothed of the slain, Of the pierced of the sword, With those that go down to the stones of the pit, As a carcase trodden under foot. 20. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial; Thy people thou hast slain; No more named forever the race of evil-doers. 21. Prepare slaughter for his sons, On account of the iniquity of their fathers; They shall not arise, nor inherit the land, Nor fill the face of the world with cities." 22. Thus I will rise up against them, Saith Jehovah of hosts, And I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, 23. And I will make her for a possession of the porcupine, And I will sweep her with the besom of destruction, Saith Jehovah of hosts. 769 The Translation. In the version above, we have endeavored, first, to give as literal a translation as possible, willingly sacrificing any elegance of phrase to the exact idea of the original; secondly, to follow the order of the Hebrew words, in all practicable cases, even at the risk of some obscurity; thirdly, to conform to the divisions of the Hebrew parallelism, after the manner of Gesenius; and, fourthly, to adopt the words of our English authorized version (for it possesses a noble simplicity, akin, in many points, to the Hebrew), except in cases where the sense was not apprehended, or was inadequately expressed. Subject. This passage contains a prediction of the overthrow of the Babylonian empire by the Median and Persian armies. The prophecy is directed particularly against Babylon, the capital city. |