This verse is an illustration of how the people of Jerusalem have changed drastically. Whereas in verse 21 the change was expressed in legal and ethical terms, here the change is presented poetically through figures of speech.

Your silver has become dross: The pronoun Your is feminine singular in Hebrew and refers to the city of Jerusalem. The city, of course, is a personification of all the people who live in it. The change from third person feminine singular pronouns in verse 21 (talking about Jerusalem) to second person feminine singular pronouns here (now addressing Jerusalem) is a Hebrew poetic device that can be confusing in another language. Good News Translation deals with this stylistic challenge by beginning with a vocative: “Jerusalem, you….” Other languages may find this helpful.

Silver is a valuable metal that is white and shiny. The Israelites used it for ornaments and tools; later on they used it especially for coins as money (see Gen 20.16; Lev 5.15; Neh 5.15). Where silver is unknown, some translators use the expression “white metal/iron” to refer to it. The phrase Your silver is a metaphor. It does not refer to the money belonging to the people but to the people themselves and their earlier value. Good News Translation captures the sense well with a simile by saying “you were once like silver.” What was silver has become dross. Dross is the waste product of smelting metal ore. It is regarded as useless and so is thrown away. If no precise term exists in a language to refer to dross, this line may be rendered “Your silver has become spoiled [or, useless/rotten]” or “Jerusalem, you were once like silver, but now you are worthless” (Good News Translation).

Your wine mixed with water: A second illustration of the change is wine that has been watered down. Wine is another figure for something of value; it, too, stands for what the people once were. Adding water to wine cheapens the wine and destroys its taste. Translators have to decide on one expression for wine since it is quite common in the Bible. Wine is a fermented drink made of grapes. It is an alcoholic drink, stronger than beer, but not as strong as a distilled drink like gin or what some call “liquor.” The words for “palm wine,” “rice wine,” and similar drinks cannot be used in most cases since they refer to drinks that are quite different from the wine of the Bible. If no word is available, the translator may have to coin one (for example, vinu) and explain it in the glossary.

Since both illustrations in this verse are metaphors, translators may use similes to make the sense clearer (so Good News Translation). Another possible model is Bible en français courant: “Jerusalem, you make one think of degenerated silver, of a great wine diluted with water.” Other alternative models are:

• Your were once silver, now you are rubbish;
you were once good wine, now you have been mixed with water.

• You were like silver, now you are just useless;
you were like good wine, now like tasteless [or, watery] wine.

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 .