Give ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech: These two lines are parallel and synonymous. For Give ear and hear together, see 1.2. Four times the prophet tells his audience to listen since what he is about to say is very important. Such an opening call is typical of Wisdom literature (see, for example, Job 33.1; 34.2; Pro 4.1; 7.24 also renders it twice, but using “constantly” in the first part, and the verb “keep” in the second part. Revised English Bible renders it only once by saying “spend his whole time” near the beginning of the verse.

He who plows and plow render the same Hebrew verb, which refers to the initial cutting of the hard soil in preparation for sowing the seed. He who plows may be rendered “the farmer” in many languages. It has a collective sense, so Good News Translation says “Farmers” and uses plural pronouns to refer to them afterwards.

Open and harrow his ground is parallel to plow in the first line. It refers to first breaking open the hard soil by plowing, and then breaking up the large clods of soil by harrowing. This was done so that there was smooth, level ground for sowing the seed (see the next verse).

The verbs plow and harrow seem to imply the use of two kinds of farm implements, maybe drawn by an animal. However, the particular method of farming is not important to the meaning of this parable. Therefore in cultures where plowing and harrowing are not done, translators can use more general terms, such as “till,” “dig,” and “hoe.”

Both parts of this rhetorical questions assume a negative answer, so translators may use negative statements if required, as in Good News Translation and the third example below.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Does the farmer constantly plow [his ground] for sowing?
Does he constantly dig and break up the soil?

• Does the plowman plow all the time [to prepare] for sowing?
Does he dig all the time to break up the soil?

• The farmer doesn’t spend all his time plowing for the sowing!
He doesn’t spend all his time digging and breaking up the ground!

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 .