Here the prophet says Yahweh caused the Babylonians to take the Israelites into exile because the Israelites sinned.

Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers?: There are two parallel questions here, so the demonstrative pronoun Who and the verb gave up are implied in the second line. Revised English Bible makes them explicit by rendering these two lines as “Who handed over Jacob for plunder, who gave up Israel for spoil?” (see also the examples below). For the parallel names Jacob and Israel, see the comments on 9.8 and 40.27. The spoiler and the robbers are also parallel expressions. The Hebrew word for spoiler is the same one rendered “plundered” in verse 22, while the word for robbers is the same one translated “robbed” there. If possible, translators should use the same words here (so Revised English Bible). Both these questions are real since the prophet answers them in the last half of the verse. He uses two parallel questions to stress that the Babylonian Exile is not some accident of history but it is under divine control. Good News Translation collapses both questions into one, so it loses the emphasis here.

Was it not the LORD…?: This is a rhetorical question. It answers the questions in the first two lines. It may be rendered as a strong statement by saying “It surely was the LORD…” (see also the second example below).

Against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey: These three synonymous parallel clauses state why the Israelites are in exile. It is because they disobeyed the LORD. The Hebrew verb rendered sinned is a general term for disobedience. In whose ways they would not walk is a figurative expression for it (see the comments on 2.3). Good News Translation says “We would not live as he wanted us to live.” As in verse 21, law refers to God’s “teachings” (Good News Translation).

There is a textual problem with we have sinned. Revised English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh change the pronoun we to “they,” so that it is consistent with the pronouns in the last two clauses. Good News Translation changes all the pronouns to first person plural for consistency. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project notes that there is no textual support for these changes. The prophet includes himself in the disobedience of his people in the first clause, but then refers only to their sins in the last two clauses. Bible en français courant tries to express the change in pronouns naturally by rendering the last three lines as “Was it not the Lord against whom we were guilty? Israel didn’t want to follow the road that its God traced for it, it didn’t listen to his law.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Who handed over Jacob to those who robbed it?
Who handed over Israel to those who plundered it?
Was it not Yahweh?
He is the one against whom we sinned,
whose ways they did not follow,
whose teachings they did not obey.

• Who gave up Jacob to its robbers?
Who gave up Israel to its plunderers?
It was certainly the LORD, whom we sinned against,
whose paths Israel did not follow,
and whose teachings it did not obey.

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 .