The connector For introduces the third reason for giving thanks to Yahweh. Not only has Yahweh done wonders (verse 1b) and destroyed the fortresses of nations (verse 2), he has also defended the poor and disadvantaged. Revised English Bible understands the Hebrew word rendered For as an emphatic particle, so it has “Truly.” Good News Translation omits it. It is best to render it as a logical connector here.

Thou hast been a stronghold to the poor: Here Yahweh is described metaphorically as a stronghold for poor people. A stronghold is a place of refuge (see the comments on 17.10, where the Hebrew word here is rendered “refuge”). This noun may be rendered as a verb by translating the whole line as “you have protected the helpless.” The poor is a collective expression, so it may be made plural. There is a wordplay in Hebrew between this line and the previous verse: Yahweh has been the stronghold (maʿoz) of the powerless, against the “strong nations” (ʿam-ʿoz).

A stronghold to the needy in his distress is parallel to the previous line. The needy person is someone in need of help and protection. The needy is another collective expression like the poor, so it may also be rendered as a plural. These expressions refer to both males and females here (see 14.30, where they occur together for the first time in this book). Distress may be translated “trouble” (so Good News Translation).

A shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. These are two other metaphors for Yahweh’s protection of those in need. He protects them like a shelter during a storm and like a shady place in a hot area. The following lines explain these metaphors further. See 4.6, where the same imagery is used. The Hebrew noun for storm (zerem) seems to be part of a wordplay between this verse and the next one, where the Hebrew words for “aliens” (zarim) and “song” (zemir) are similar in spelling.

For the blast of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall: The connector for introduces why the poor need protection. Blast is literally “wind.” It is a metaphor for the severe attack of cruel powerful people against the poor who cannot defend themselves. Some languages may need to use a nonfigurative expression for the blast of the ruthless; for example, “the attack from ruthless/cruel people.” Their attack is like a storm against a wall. Good News Translation emends Masoretic Text here to read “like a winter storm” (also New Jerusalem Bible). Similar renderings are “like an icy storm” (Revised English Bible), “As with cold rain” (New American Bible), and “like a winter rainstorm” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). However, the textual evidence argues against this change, so we agree with Hebrew Old Testament Text Project that translators should keep the reading in Masoretic Text, as in Revised Standard Version.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• For you have been a protection for the poor,
a refuge for the needy when they are troubled,
a shelter from the storm and shade from the heat;
for the attack from cruel people is like a rainstorm beating against the wall, ….

• For you, Yahweh, have protected the poor
and have been a safe haven for the needy in trouble,
a shelter from storms and shade from heat;
for the wind blast from cruel people is like a storm battering a wall, ….

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 .