Is there any support in the original Hebrew in Isaiah 44:20 for the NLT translation calling the person who worships idols a “poor fool”?

Question

Is there any support in the original Hebrew in Isaiah 44:20 for the NLT translation calling the person who worships idols a “poor fool”? Or is this simply a rationale to aid the reader’s understanding?

“The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can’t help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, “Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭44‬:‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Further if the word “poor” is supported in the original translation is it talking about being poor materially - such as impoverished people are more likely to look for a god and make idols for themselves- or poor spiritually?

Finally, and I hope this question is not going too off topic, if there is support for the word “poor” being there would it be the same kind of poor as in Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” ?

Answer 1

Notice below that Isaiah 44:20 does not contain a word that directly translates to “poor” in the sense of material poverty or spiritual lacking. The Hebrew can be translated as "He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside..."

Is it not a poor and foolish man who feeds on ash? Who lets deception lead his heart?

• הוּתַ֖ל (hutal) suggests being deceived, led astray, or mocked
• לֵ֥ב (lev) refers to the heart, which in Hebrew thought is the seat of intellect and will, not just emotion.

So, to conclude: The New Living Translation (NLT) interprets the verse to convey the folly and delusion of idolatry. Hence the phrase, “poor, deluded fool.” It is an interpretative choice. What it does is convey a sense of pity and the misguided nature of idol worship. It's not a literal translation of specific words for “poor” or “fool.”

Answer 2

I'm an amateur at Ancient Hebrew but what the OP raises is a classic difficulty with translations.

rō‘eh ’êp̄er, lêḇ hūṯal = "Feeding on ashes, the heart is deceived" (YLT)

The Hebrew phrase is explained in the commentaries. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/isaiah/44-20.htm. It's to do with the foolishness and futility of trying to eat ash. It's metaphorical language - an adage or saying.

NLT renders the bible in contemporary English. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Living_Translation

On the one hand translators want to keep as close to the original idea as possible. But "He feedeth on ashes" isn't something we say for this. There isn't a direct equivalent but NLT's "poor fool" is at least universally-understood and very neutral, e.g. compared with a closer phrase like "dumb enough to eat rocks" which is a dialect translation that wouldn't carry equally into all English milieux.

This is a least-worst strategy of translation: to get across the basic point without introducing new or specifically English ideas, but it loses whatever tone or subtlety the original idiom conjured up.

It's never safe to draw conclusions from the translated word. "Poor" might be appropriate in the English idiom "poor fool" but that doesn't let us conclude materially poor or any of the other ideas we derive in English. We have to remember we're reading a translation. So it's only poor in the sense of poor fool, and only here in this instance. The same Hebrew term might need a different English phrase next time it's used.

Re. Matthew 5:3, again no - that's coming from the placeholders of a translation.

In Isaiah 44, there might be a sense of spiritual poverty or even pity being displayed toward the idol-worshipper, but this is the self-created poverty of someone who has squandered material resources on an inert statue whilst neglecting the living god. And they're going to be contrasted with Jacob's and Israel's Jerusalem.

Comparison to Matthew 5:3 might be productive, but it doesn't arise from the word "poor" which is only a translator's gloss.

Answer 3

The NASB of Isa 44:20 gives a good literal rendering:

He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save himself, nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Note that the words, "poor", "fool", etc, found in the NLT are not part of the Hebrew. This is not surprising as the NLY is not a literal translation - its sister translation the ESV is reasonably literal and reads:

He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”