Gleanings will be left in it is the main clause in this verse; the remaining lines qualify it. Gleanings are the leftover grain in a field after the harvest. Good News Translation makes it explicit that this refers to the few Israelites remaining after the destruction of their nation. The pronoun it could refer to the Rephaim Valley in the previous verse or Israel (so Good News Translation).

As when an olive tree is beaten …: Although the rest of the verse speaks of an olive tree, berries and a fruit tree, many versions refer only to an olive tree and its fruit (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Gleanings from the grain crop are compared to olives remaining on a tree after the main harvest. When olives are harvested, the olive tree is shaken or beaten to cause the ripe olives to fall to the ground. Inevitably with this method, a few olives remain on the tree. The verb beaten may be rendered “shaken” or even “harvested.”

Two or three berries in the top of the highest bough describes the few olives remaining in a tree after the harvest. Berries are usually small fruit. Here translators can say “olives,” as in Good News Translation and New International Version. The highest bough is the top branch of a tree.

Four or five on the branches of a fruit tree is parallel to the previous phrase. It describes the few pieces of fruit left in a tree after the harvest. When fruit is picked, some of it is missed by the pickers or left on the tree because it is not ripe enough. The Hebrew word rendered fruit tree is a general term, so translators should not mention a specific tree. If their language does not have a generic term, it is best to refer to the olive tree (so Good News Translation).

The numbers in sequence, two or three and four or five, suggest very small amounts. The examples below express this clearly.

Says the LORD God of Israel: See Isa 17.3 for comments on this concluding clause. The wording is slightly different here. God of Israel identifies Yahweh as having a special relationship with Israel. This phrase can mean “God who rules over Israel,” as well as “the God whom Israel worships.”

Consider the following translation models for this verse:

• What is left over will be very little, like the two or three olives left on the top branches of the tree after it is beaten/shaken/harvested, or like the four or five pieces of fruit left on a fruit tree. These are the words of the LORD, the God of Israel.

• There will be very little left, like the two or three olives left on the top part of the olive tree after it is beaten, or like the four or five olives remaining on the branches of the tree. Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel.

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 .