The content of verse 3 recalls Exo 10.21-22, but its language is more poetic. It describes the LORD spreading a thick cloth over the sun, the moon, and the stars. The result is total darkness. There is also a hint through the use of sackcloth that it is done as a sign of mourning.

I clothe the heavens with blackness: This imagery means Yahweh has the power to make the sky turn dark. Only the Creator can claim this kind of power. The clear implication is that, if the LORD can even cover up the sources of light in the sky, he certainly has the power to rescue his people. Good News Translation expresses this line nonfiguratively, saying “I can make the sky turn dark.”

And make sackcloth their covering is parallel to the previous line. God speaks of dressing the sky in sackcloth, which is coarse cloth associated with mourning for the dead, but also with penitence or shame (see the comments on 3.24). Good News Translation and other translations are rather specific about mourning for the dead. Contemporary English Version goes even further by rendering sackcloth as “the sackcloth you wear at funerals.” Such a stress on mourning and funerals may make the reader wonder who or what has died. The purpose of this line is simply to convey the idea of somber, depressing darkness, especially since sackcloth was usually made of dark wool. Translators may not be able to bring out the meaning of sackcloth here except by speaking about “dark clothes worn for mourning.” Good News Translation indicates that this line is figurative language by saying “as if it were in mourning for the dead.”

There is a play-on-words in this verse in Hebrew, because the noun rendered blackness also has the sense of “mourning” (see, for example, Psa 35.14, where the same Hebrew root occurs).

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• I dress the heavens in darkness,
covering them with sackcloth.”

• I make the heavens dark,
dressing them in mourning clothes.”

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 .