There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile: The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered bare places is uncertain. Other translations prefer “plants” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible), “water plants” (Bible en français courant), “bulrushes” (New American Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “lotus” (Revised English Bible), “papyrus” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “paper reeds” (King James Version). The versions that specify a type of plant believe the word here in Masoretic Text is a borrowed Egyptian term with that meaning. This is probably correct, so translator should not follow Revised Standard Version with bare places. We suggest a general term like “plants,” because the precise meaning of the term in Hebrew is uncertain. A footnote could explain this. With this meaning the verbs in the last two lines of the verse serve this line; see the examples below. It is also possible that the verb of the previous line could serve this line; for example, New International Version has “6 … The reeds and rushes will wither, 7 also the plants along the Nile….”

On the brink of the Nile: The word brink is literally “mouth,” so this line refers to “the mouth of the river” (so New International Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), the place where a river flows into the sea. It could also refer to “the banks of the river” (so Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Revised English Bible omits this line since it is redundant, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends keeping it. Some combine it with the previous line and say “Plants by/on the banks of the Nile.” However, there is poetic repetition here that should be retained, so we recommend “Plants along the Nile, down to the mouth of the Nile” (similarly de~Waard). The Nile will be mentioned again in the next line, so this verse has three references to it, which translators should keep unless it is inappropriate for reasons of style.

And all that is sown by the Nile will dry up, be driven away, and be no more: There are three verbs here that describe the destruction of all the crops growing along the Nile. Isaiah often uses multiple descriptive phrases to describe the same thing. This heightens the impact of the description. The prophet also places the subject all that is sown before the first verb in the Hebrew text to highlight it. According to BDB, the Hebrew expression rendered all that is sown refers to the land on which crops are sown, so New International Version has “Every sown field” and New American Bible says “All the sown land.” However, these renderings do not fit well with the verb be driven away, unless we imagine the wind blowing topsoil away. In this context it is better to say “all the crops” (Good News Translation) or “all the vegetation” (New Jerusalem Bible).

In Good News Translation this verse is much shorter than in Revised Standard Version since it has combined several ideas to avoid redundancy. However, by doing this it has lost the poetry here. For this verse we suggest the following models:

• The plants along the Nile, at the mouth of the Nile,
everything planted along the Nile will dry up, be blown away and vanish.

• The plants that grow near the Nile, down to the mouth of the Nile,
all the crops planted along the Nile will wither, blow away and vanish.

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 .