F I S H I N G

“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?

The watchman said:
There will be day, and there will be night.

Just keep asking.”

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Mostly these verses are translated as oracle, but in everyday language that is a nameless Greek fortune-teller’s advice and is therefore misleading.  The Latin translator chose onus, meaning burden. It could also be a curse or a prophecy.

It seems that Isaiah is angry at people who ask for a prediction when they don’t want to see the obvious.
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Great poetry has this in common with any simple joke: if the meaning has to be explained, then the charm is off. Yet if the joke or the verse are any good, their meaning unfolds little by little, mostly.

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And this is a translation of a text that has been translated over and over for nearly 3000 years and so there are many versions.  Larousse says that Isaiah was an advisor to the king and the country was at war.

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Here is the Latin version, for centuries the only text known, and not many people had access to it, but it does sound truly Latin :

Ad me clamat ex Seir:
Custos, quid de nocte?
custos, quid de nocte?

Dixit custos:
Venit mane et nox;
si quæritis, quærite;
convertimini, venite.

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The pictures are Isaiah by Marc Chagall.  Isaiah’s most famous prophecy is about Eden where all creatures will get along with each other, remember?

“The lion will graze with the lamb…. for there will be no pain anymore anywhere in my Holy Mountain”.

The painting  is at the Israeli parliament:

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There is also an Isaiah fresco by Raphael :

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Here is Luther’s version. Nobody after him could translate the Bible into German as vividly as he had done:

Jesaja 21 (Luther 1545)
Dies ist die Last über Duma:

Man ruft zu mir aus Seir: Hüter, ist die Nacht schier hin? Hüter ist die Nacht schier hin?

Der Hüter aber sprach: Wenn der Morgen schon kommt, so wird es doch Nacht sein. Wenn ihr schon fragt, so werdet ihr doch wieder kommen und wieder fragen.

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