daughter of Zion

“Navajo distinguishes between a man’s son or daughter and a woman’s son or daughter by the use of different terms for each. So the gender of Zion had to be determined. The problem was settled when a friend called to our attention a number of verses in the Old Testament where Zion is referred to as “she” or “her”, e.g. Ps. 87:5, 48:12, Is. 4:5, 66:8. The term for a woman’s daughter is biché’é, so the “daughter of Zion” became Záiyon biché’é ‘Zion her-daughter’.”

Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff.

Jerusalem

The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:


“Jerusalem” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)


“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 10:32

This very day he will halt at Nob: The pronoun he refers to the Assyrian army just as it did in verse 28. When the Assyrians get as far as the town of Nob just outside Jerusalem, they will halt (literally “stand still”). Jerusalem was visible from Nob.

He will shake his fist at …: “Shaking the fist” is making one’s (right) hand into a fist, raising it, and shaking it at somebody. The gesture is meant to threaten that person. So Assyria intends to threaten Jerusalem with attack. Since this kind of body language can have various meanings in different cultures, translators are urged to render the meaning of shake his fist, rather than simply describe the physical action. It is likely that the verb “threaten” will need to be used.

The mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem: In 3.16-17 and in 4.4 there was the phrase “the daughters of Zion,” meaning “the women of Jerusalem” and “the people of Jerusalem,” respectively. Here the phrases the mount of the daughter of Zion and the hill of Jerusalem are parallel, referring to the city of Jerusalem (see also verse 12 and 1.8). The phrases also refer figuratively to those who live there.

For the translation of this verse we suggest:

• Today they will stop at Nob—
shake their fists [as a threat] against the people of Zion,
the mount of Jerusalem.

• This very day they will reach Nob and stop. They will threaten those on Mount Zion, the hill on which Jerusalem is built.

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 .