The three parallel lines in this verse describe the absence of music and celebration.

The mirth of the timbrels is stilled: A timbrel is a musical instrument like a tambourine (see the comments at 5.12). Its mirth refers to the happy and cheerful sound it makes when played. This cheery sound is now stilled. The Hebrew verb rendered is stilled comes from a root meaning “to rest.” This line is a poetic way of saying that nobody is playing the tambourine anymore, so there is no singing or dancing.

The noise of the jubilant has ceased is literally “the roar of the exulting ones has ceased.” For noise see 13.4, where the same Hebrew word is rendered “uproar.” Here it is a noise of celebration since the jubilant made it. The jubilant refers to people who enjoy parties (see 22.2, where the same Hebrew word is rendered “exultant”). For this whole line Bible en français courant has “the noise of people feasting has disappeared.”

The mirth of the lyre is stilled: This line is exactly the same as the first line except for the name of the instrument. For lyre see the comments at 5.12. This singular noun has a plural sense here.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• The happy sound of the tambourines has stopped,
the joyful noise of the revelers has ceased,
the happy sound of the harps has stopped.

• The cheerful sound of the tambourines is no longer heard,
the delighted shout of people celebrating has stopped,
the cheerful sound of the harps is no longer heard.

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 .