While their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded: Their inhabitants refers to the people living in the fortified cities captured by Sennacherib. They were totally overwhelmed by the Assyrians. As in the previous verse, the verb tenses here should be past (so Good News Translation). Shorn of strength translates an idiom that is literally “short of hand.” It describes the captured people as powerless. Good News Translation expresses it well with “were powerless.” Other possibilities are “were lacking in strength” and “were very weak.” Are dismayed and confounded describes the state of mind of the captured people. The Hebrew verb for dismayed may mean they were discouraged (so Revised Standard Version) or afraid (so Good News Translation), while the verb for confounded may mean they were humiliated (so New International Version, Revised English Bible) or confused (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation; see the comments on these verbs at 20.5).

And have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops …: Yahweh gives three images here to reinforce his statement about the weakness of those defeated by the Assyrian army. Using three or four examples is typical of Isaiah’s poetic style. This second half of the verse is literally “and they were plants of the field and tender grass, grass on the housetops….” The Hebrew text has metaphors here, but Revised Standard Version and many other translations change them to similes. Translators may use metaphors or similes here, but similes will often be clearer, especially if the point of comparison is added. New Jerusalem Bible does this by saying “were weak as grass, were frail as plants, were like grass of housetop….”

Grass on the housetops refers to the grass and weeds that grow on the flat roofs of houses. They grow in the dust that gathers in the corners and cracks of the roofs. Normally such growth cannot sustain itself because there is no depth of soil. It withers quickly due to intense heat or a lack of moisture. For housetops see the comments on 15.3.

Blighted before it is grown: There are two textual problems here. First, instead of blighted, the Hebrew text has a word meaning “field.” Like Revised Standard Version, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project emends the text to read “blighted,” that is, scorched or burned. This follows the parallel text of 2 Kgs 19.26. Second, the Hebrew expression rendered before it is grown can also mean “before standing grain.” Like Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, most scholars emend this to read “before the east wind.” De~Waard accepts these two changes to the Hebrew text. He suggests that Revised English Bible offers the best rendering for the last two lines of this verse: “as grass on the rooftops blasted by the east wind” (similarly Good News Translation). We recommend that translators follow this emended text. For “the east wind,” see the comments on 27.8.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Their inhabitants were powerless,
they were discouraged and humiliated.
They were like plants, like new grass,
like grass growing on the roof,
scorched by the east wind.

• The people living there lost all strength,
they were afraid and confused.
They were like plants in the field, like new grass,
like grass growing on the roofs of houses,
burned by the east wind.

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 .