And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field: This is a further result of the enemy attack. Normally at the time of harvest there is happiness and celebration, but due to the destruction of the fields, there is no harvest and therefore no festivity. The nouns joy and gladness are synonymous. Translators may choose two nouns that fit together naturally in this context, such as “joy and happiness.” Contemporary English Version says “joyful and happy times,” and Bible en français courant has “The noisy joy.” The happiness was taken away. The Hebrew verb here is literally “has been gathered.” In this context it means “have been removed.” This passive verb assumes an agent. In languages where an active verb with a subject is required here, translators can indicate that it was the enemy who denied the Moabites their harvest celebration. Good News Translation provides another solution with an active verb by rendering these lines as “No one is happy now in the fertile fields.” The fruitful field is the fertile farmland (see the comments on 10.18).

And in the vineyards no songs are sung, no shouts are raised: These lines are parallel to the previous two lines. Some translators may need to change the passive verbs here to active. Good News Translation does this by saying “No one shouts or sings in the vineyards.” The Hebrew word rendered shouts can refer to shouts of warning, battle cries, or shouting in anger or despair, but here it is joyful shouting.

No treader treads out wine in the presses: At the end of the grape harvest the farmer trampled the grapes in a wine press (see the illustration and comments at 5.2). As he trod the grapes, grape juice flowed out. The juice was stored and in time became wine. So it would be more accurate to say “treads out grape juice” instead of treads out wine. Good News Translation provides a good model for this line, saying “No one tramples grapes to make wine.”

The vintage shout is hushed is literally “shout I have ceased.” The Hebrew term for shout is different from the one in the fourth line. From the context it is clear that this shout refers to shouts of joy during the vintage, that is, grape harvest. Like Revised Standard Version, many versions use the passive verb is hushed, which leaves the agent uncertain. This conforms to the other verbs in the verse. However, New English Bible and Revised English Bible follow the Hebrew by saying “I have silenced” (similarly New International Version). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project supports this reading with God speaking here. However, the next line speaks of “my soul,” which clearly refers to the prophet. Normally, readers would understand both first person pronouns as referring to the prophet. We recommend following the majority opinion here. It is better to use a passive verb rather than to say God stopped the shouting. Throughout this oracle the prophet never says God destroyed Moab, except in 15.9. If translators need an active verb, they may render this line as “the shouts of joy during the grape harvest have stopped [or, come to an end].”

We suggest the following examples to translate this verse:

• Joy and happiness have disappeared from the fertile farmlands;
in the vineyards nobody sings songs anymore, nobody calls out in joy.
Nobody treads the grapes in the presses for wine,
the shouting has been silenced.

• Harvest joy and celebration have disappeared from the fertile fields;
nobody sings harvest songs in the vineyards or calls out with shouts of joy.
Nobody treads out the wine grapes in the presses,
all shouts have ended.

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 .