God's anger, wrath of God

The Hebrew and Greek What is translated into English as “the wrath of God” (Good News Translation: “God’s anger”) has to be referred to in Bengali as judgment, punishment or whatever fits the context. In Bengali culture, anger is by definition bad and can never be predicated of God. (Source: David Clark)

In Kikuyu the whole phrase that is translated in English as “storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath” or similar is translated as “you are increasing for yourself God’s wrath.” (Source: Jan Sterk)

In Quetzaltepec Mixe it is translated with a term “that not only expresses anger, but also punishment” (source: Robert Bascom), in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “the coming punishment of God on mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), in Kankanaey as “God’s fearful/terrible future punishing of people” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation), in Tagbanwa as “the coming anger/hatred of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation), and in Tenango Otomi as “the punishment which will come” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation).

See also anger.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 13:3

Yahweh now speaks through the prophet, indicating what he has already done. The vocabulary seems to point to a “holy war” (so Good News Translation). Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version change the first person references to the LORD to third person. This is a valid option since the following verses refer to him in the third person.

I myself have commanded is an emphatic expression in Hebrew. The verb phrase have summoned is parallel to it. Three colorful expressions are used for those whom Yahweh has summoned: my consecrated ones, my mighty men, and my proudly exalting ones. It is part of Isaiah’s style to pile up three similar phrases. As in verse 2, those summoned are probably the Medes, but this should not be made explicit here. It is also possible that these expressions are symbolic for Yahweh’s armies fighting evil.

My consecrated ones does not mean “those who have dedicated themselves to me” but rather “those whom I have set apart [for some specific action].” The Hebrew word here comes from the same root as the word for “holy.” The NJPSV footnote|prj:NJPS.Isa 13.3 on this word suggests that it points to the requirement for all those who participate in a sacrificial meal to be holy or ritually clean. So the impending “slaughter” is given a strong religious flavor.

My mighty men means “the strong warriors I am about to use.” The pronoun my does not indicate these soldiers were followers of Yahweh. He simply used them for his purpose. Good News Translation renders mighty men as “soldiers” and Contemporary English Version has “very best warriors.”

My proudly exulting ones describes the consecrated and mighty warriors in another way. New Jerusalem Bible says “my proud champions,” and Bible en français courant has “the joyful champions of my honor.” In these versions “champions” has the sense of “defenders,” not “winners.” The Hebrew expression here is also found in Zeph 3.11, where it is used in a negative sense. The word for proudly is used earlier in 9.9 with the sense of “arrogance.” So this phrase may have a negative tone, but it is not likely in the context of the phrases, my consecrated ones and my mighty men, which describe the same people.

To execute my anger gives God’s purpose for these warriors. They are to carry out a punishment stemming from his anger. He is probably angry about the evils of Babylon. The Hebrew here simply says “to/for my anger,” but like Revised Standard Version, most versions supply a verb; for example, Revised English Bible has “to give effect to my anger,” and New Jerusalem Bible says “to serve my anger.”

Several modern translations rearrange the contents of this verse. After the command, they group the three descriptive phrases for the warriors and state the contents of the command at the end; for example, Bible en français courant has “I myself command the men who are consecrated to me, I have summoned my elite soldiers, the joyful defenders of my honor, [for them] to show my anger.” Some versions also collapse the three expressions into two, as Good News Translation does with “his proud and confident soldiers”; for example, Contemporary English Version says “The LORD has commanded his very best warriors and his proud heroes to show how angry he is.” These are valid options for some translators.

Translation suggestions for this verse are:

• I am the one who has commanded those I have set apart; I have summoned those warriors of mine, those proud ones, to carry out my purpose of punishment.

• I am the one who has commanded those arrogant and proud warriors I have dedicated to carry out my punishment.

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 .