In this verse the prophet uses a long rhetorical question to tell his people that they should not complain that God has abandoned them since it isn’t true. He quotes their complaint within his question.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: These two synonymous parallel lines introduce what the people are saying. The verbs rendered say and speak are in the imperfect form in Hebrew, so they may refer to an ongoing action. The people are continually complaining. It may be helpful to render one of these verbs as “complain” to reflect specifically the kind of speech here (so Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible). For the parallel names Jacob and Israel, see the comments on 9.8. Here they refer to the people of Judah, as in 14.1. These two names are used as a pair seventeen times in chapters 40–49. Since it is an important literary feature of these chapters, we recommend that translators keep both of them. Good News Translation combines these two lines, and it only keeps the more common name Israel. However, we suggest beginning this verse with “Why do you lament, Jacob? Why do you complain, Israel? You say….” Some languages may prefer to use the name Israel first since it is known better. It may also be more natural to place the names at the beginning of each line rather than at the end (see the first and the third examples below).
The second half of this verse forms a chiasmus in Hebrew, which is literally: “it-is-hidden > my-way > from-Yahweh > < and-from-my-God < my-justice < he-overlooks.” My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God: These two parallel lines are the complaint of the people. It is similar to the complaints in many Lament Psalms (see, for example, Psa 13.1; 44.24; 88.14). The people have been in exile in Babylonia for a long time, so they feel that God has abandoned them. My way is hid from the LORD expresses their feeling that Yahweh is ignoring their way of life. Since My way is parallel to my right, it probably refers to the righteous living of the people. My right is disregarded by my God expresses their feeling that God is not providing them with the justice they deserve for living justly. My right has the sense of just treatment for the people. My God shows their close relationship to God, using language borrowed from the covenant context (see the comments on 25.1). Despite all that has happened, they still regard him as their God. Bible en français courant provides a helpful model for these lines, saying “The Lord does not perceive what is happening to me. My just cause escapes from my God’s attention.” Good News Translation renders this complaint as indirect speech, which other languages may prefer to do (see the second example below).
The references to Jacob/Israel in this verse are singular in Hebrew, but since these names refer to a community of people, some languages may prefer to use the plural expressions; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders the whole verse as “You [plural] people of Israel, you [plural] descendants of Jacob, why do you [plural] complain: ‘The LORD never sees what is happening to us, nor does he ever support justice for us’?” This model also translates the passive verbs in the last two lines as active one, which may be helpful in other languages (see also the third example below).
Translation examples for this verse are:
• O Jacob, why do you keep complaining?
O Israel, why do you go on grumbling, saying:
“My life is invisible to the LORD,
my righteous cause is disregarded by my God”?
• Why do you complain, Jacob,
why do you lament, Israel,
that your way of life is being ignored by the LORD,
that your just cause is being disregarded by your God?
• O Jacob, you should not at all be complaining.
O Israel, you should not be lamenting at all, saying:
“The LORD ignores my [righteous] life,
my God disregards just cause.”
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 .