What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?: Yahweh begins with a rhetorical question. He states very strongly that offering many sacrifices is worthless. What he wants is a clean heart (verse 16). The question is equivalent in meaning to the statements in the last four lines.

What to me…? is the literal form of the Hebrew question. In this context it carries the sense of “they have no value to me!” Translators can retain the question form and say “What [to me] is the value of…?” Good News Translation provides another useful model: “Do you think I want…?” It may also be rendered as a strong statement by saying “I place no value in….”

Multitude of your sacrifices refers to the many sacrifices the people are offering; this forms the basis of their religious life. The noun sacrifices actually refers to the action of “offering sacrifices” and may be rendered with the help of this verb, as Good News Translation has done. Another possible model with this verb is “What is it to me that you are offering me so many sacrifices?” The pronoun your is plural.

Says the LORD: Since Yahweh’s address begins with a question, the verb says may be rendered “asks” if the question form is retained. In many languages this clause has to come at the beginning of the verse as follows: “The LORD says/asks: ‘What to me…?’” Good News Translation is similar with “He says, ‘Do you think I want…?’”

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams: Yahweh answers his own question. I have had enough of … does not mean that the number of sacrifices is sufficient or adequate, but rather that God is tired of receiving these frequent offerings; he has had his fill of them. The Hebrew verb here literally means “to be sated, to be overfull.” Burnt offerings of rams refers to male sheep that have been slaughtered and burnt on the altar. The Hebrew word translated burnt offerings (also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Jerusalem Bible) refers to sacrifices in which the whole animal is burned as an offering to God (see Lev 1). In English this sacrifice is sometimes called a “whole burnt offering.” This is a key term, and translators should translate it consistently. Possibilities are “sacrifice burned entirely,” “gift [for God] burned up in the fire,” and “offering burned totally on the altar.” If the concept of burning entirely is difficult, an expression such as “complete sacrifice” (see Bible en français courant) is possible. Revised English Bible has “whole-offering.”

And the fat of fed beasts: The fat of animals was an important element in some sacrifices (Lev 3.3-4; 4.8-9). Here the phrase fed beasts describes animals specially fattened for sacrifice. They were the best animals, so Good News Translation calls them “fine animals.” Revised English Bible suggests “well-fed cattle.”

I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats: In the Hebrew the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats receives a special emphasis by being placed before the verb. Yahweh says he gets no pleasure from them. Blood was sprinkled on the altar when sacrifices were offered. It represents the life of the animal, a life that was given up (see Gen 9.4). Blood could also be seen here as a way of referring to the animal sacrifices themselves. It is possible, therefore, to render the term as “sacrifice,” if blood here does not carry the appropriate meaning in the local culture.

Lambs are young sheep. In languages that do not distinguish young animals from old ones or that do not have different names for the male and female of the species, lambs … he-goats may be rendered “sheep and goats” (Good News Translation). The focus of the verse is not on the exact description of the animals being offered, but on the offerings as such. Yahweh rejects them all.

Alternative models for this verse are:

• Yahweh says: “I place no value in your many sacrifices;
I have had more than enough of your burnt offerings of rams and of well-fed cattle;
I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls, lambs, and male goats.

• “What use do I have for your many sacrifices?” asks Yahweh.
“Your burnt offerings of rams and choice cattle I have had enough of;
the sacrifice of bulls, sheep and goats gives me no pleasure.

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 .