I will tell of your righteousness and your doings: God will expose the false righteousness of the idol worshipers. He will make known what they are doing wrong. In this context a good rendering for the verb tell is “expose” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). The Hebrew noun for righteousness comes from the same root as the word rendered “righteous” in verse 1. However, God uses it sarcastically here to refer to those who worship idols using traditional worship forms. They contrast with those who are truly righteous (verses 1-2). The Hebrew word for doings is a general term for any action, but here it points to idol worship. For this line New Revised Standard Version has “I will concede your righteousness and your works.” This implies that Yahweh agrees that those people were righteous. However, he is being sarcastic. If readers are likely to miss the intended sarcasm, Good News Translation provides a helpful model with “You think that what you do is right, but I will expose your conduct.” Another possibility is “I will expose your false righteousness and behavior.”

But they will not help you: The pronoun they could point back to the false gods, so Good News Translation renders this line as “and your idols will not be able to help you” (similarly Revised English Bible). However, this pronoun more likely refers to your righteousness and your doings (so most versions). Idol worshipers will not benefit by what they do. Bible en français courant expresses this clearly by rendering the whole verse as “But I will expose your so-called innocence and your activities. You will get no profit from them.” Other translation examples for this verse are:

• I will expose your so-called righteousness
and what you have been doing;
these cannot help you.

• You think you are righteous,
but I will expose you along with what you have done.
None of it will be of any help [to you].

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 .