This verse continues to describe the future blessings for Judah. Here it uses the imagery of light and “healing” for God’s blessings.
This verse is closely connected with the previous one in two ways. First, both verses begin literally with “And it will be” in Hebrew to introduce further blessings. Second, they both have a time clause that begins with in the day. The time clause here speaks of healing, but the previous one spoke of destruction.
Moreover renders the common Hebrew conjunction, which is literally “And.” Here it introduces an additional example of God’s blessings on his people. It may be rendered “Furthermore” or “In addition,” but many translations omit it.
The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun states that the amount of light given off by the moon at night will equal that given off by the sun during the day. This means that the moon will be much brighter than normal. Translators may need to add the adjective “bright” to make the comparison clearer here. The Hebrew noun for sun, which occurs twice in this verse, is a rare poetic term. It is also used in 24.23 (see the comments there).
And the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: The increase in light by the moon will be matched by an increase in light given off by the sun. The light of seven days means that the sun’s brightness will increase sevenfold.
Light, as opposed to “darkness,” is part of God’s blessing. There will be a beneficial change in nature, so that there will be plenty of light during the day as well as during the night. In cultures where the sun is associated with extreme heat, dryness and hardship, translators may need to stress the idea of abundant light both night and day, rather than heat, and present this feature as a blessing. The second example below attempts to do this.
In the day when the LORD binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow: According to these two parallel clauses, the abundant light will come when Yahweh heals his people whom he has wounded. Binds up the hurt means “bandages the wounds.” The Hebrew word for hurt can mean “fracture.” It is the same word rendered “crash” in verse 13 and “breaking” in verse 14. Revised English Bible renders binds up the hurt as “binds up the broken limbs,” which is a valid model. These injuries were inflicted by his blow, that is, by Yahweh himself. The Hebrew noun for blow means “strike” or “hit” here. These two clauses refer figuratively to Yahweh comforting his people after punishing them. A possible nonfigurative model is “at the time when the LORD will comfort his people in their suffering, when he will make them forget the punishment he has inflicted on them.”
As in the previous verse, the time clause at the end of this verse may be placed at the beginning for naturalness (see the third example below). It may also be necessary to break up the long sentence of this verse into two or three sentences (so Good News Translation; see also the examples below). Translation examples for this verse are:
• Then the light of the moon will become as bright as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will increase sevenfold, like the [combined] light of seven days. This will happen at the time when Yahweh bandages up the wounds of his people and heals their wounds he has inflicted.
• There will also be abundant light during the day as well as during the night. The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will become seven times better, like the light of seven days together. This will happen when Yahweh binds and heals the wounds of his people caused by him.
• When Yahweh bandages the wounds of his people and heals their wounds he has inflicted, the light of the moon will become as bright as that of the sun. The light of the sun will increase seven times, the combined light of seven days.
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 .