You will say in that day: The pronoun You is singular. The prophet is speaking, but he does not indicate whom he is addressing. It probably is Jerusalem and its people considered as a single entity—those who have been promised a new Davidic ruler (chapter 11). It could also be the remnant mentioned in 11.16. Bible en français courant expresses this sense explicitly, saying “People who have been freed, you [singular] will say on that day.” The time phrase in that day links back to verses 10 and 11 of the previous chapter. It can be understood as the usual reference to some time in the future. Good News Translation does this with “A day is coming.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch makes an explicit link with the preceding chapter, saying “On the day of your salvation.”

I will give thanks to thee, O LORD: The future tense is a little misleading. The person is not promising to praise God at some future time. Most versions use a present tense (see Good News Translation). The Hebrew verb here refers to a confession of praise as well as thanksgiving, and the “praise” component is very strong. Bible en français courant has “Lord, I want to praise you,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “LORD, I praise you!” (similarly Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

For though thou wast angry with me, thy anger turned away: In 10.25 Yahweh said he would end his anger against Israel and redirect it against the Assyrians. This has now happened. The Hebrew verb rendered wast angry occurs only here in the Old Testament prophetic writings, but it is found four times in the Psalms.

The connector for indicates that the speaker will now give the reason for his thankfulness. However, translators should take care not to give the impression that the speaker praises God because God was angry. A possible misunderstanding can be avoided by adding “though” as Revised Standard Version does, or by reversing the clauses of this quote as follows: “I praise you, LORD, because you are no longer angry … although once you were angry with me.” Good News Translation uses two separate sentences, and leaves for implicit.

Thy anger turned away makes the abstract noun anger the subject of an action. Some languages will find this difficult and will rather say “you turned your anger aside” or something similar, making God the subject and anger the object of the verb.

And thou didst comfort me: In place of anger came comfort. This is similar to the theme of chapter 40. Punishment is complete and this makes God’s new message one of comfort. Most versions use the verb comfort, but Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch prefers an idiom: “and I can breathe freely again!”

Translation examples for this verse are:

• You will say at that time, “I thank you, LORD, because you turned your anger away from me and gave me comfort, though once you were angry with me.”

• At that time you will say, “I give you thanks LORD because, although you were angry with me, you have now turned aside your anger and comforted me.”

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 .