The initial connector So (Bible en français courant “Then,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “That’s why”) shows that this verse speaks of the result of the situation in verse 13. Good News Translation and others leave this connector implied.

The LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed means the LORD removed the leaders of Israel from their positions. The verb cut off may be rendered in past tense (Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version) or future tense (Good News Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version). Translators may allow naturalness and ease of language flow to help them decide. The choice made here will probably have an effect on the choice of verb tenses in verse 17.

This verse and the next one refer to head and tail. These terms are used figuratively and they are explained in verse 15. Palm branch and reed are also figures, and they are parallel to head and tail. (See 19.15 for another use of these same sets of figures.) Palm branch and reed add little to the meaning of the verse, and they are not explained in verse 14. This may be the reason why Good News Translation omits them. Like the expression “From the sole of the foot even to the head” in 1.6, the expressions head and tail and palm branch and reed indicate totality or completeness. These expressions may represent all the people of Israel, its leaders and its common people. Good News Translation expresses this interpretation. However, the following verse explains that the tail represents false prophets, so these expressions probably stand for Israel’s leadership, both secular and religious. The use of head and tail as an idiom for a total amount is known in many languages. If this idiom is not known, it will be difficult to replace it because the terms head and tail reoccur in the next verse. In such a case translators may follow the example of Good News Translation and make explicit one interpretation of who is involved and what the LORD’s action entails. The Good News Translation rendering may be adjusted by adding the missing phrase palm branch and reed and by referring to the leaders only as follows: “In a single day the LORD will punish Israel’s leaders; he will cut off all the leaders from the people, head and tail, palm branch and reed.”

In one day suggests a quick and decisive action. This does not refer to a 24-hour period but to one time or moment in which the action is completed. Good News Translation draws attention to this idiom by beginning the verse with “In a single day.”

For the translation of this verse consider:

• Therefore, in one moment, Yahweh removed from Israel
its head and tail,
the palm branch as well as the reed.

• So Yahweh severed Israel’s head and tail,
the palm branch and the reed,
all in one decisive action.

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 .