Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice: The prophet also invites those who live in deserts to praise Yahweh. For desert see the comments on 14.17. This word is singular in Hebrew, but it has a collective sense, so it may be rendered “deserts.” As elsewhere, but especially here, the word cities should not be rendered by a term that is used for large, modern cities. It is better rendered “towns.” Lift up their voice is literally “lift up,” but “their voices” is implied (similarly in verse 2). Here this verb may be rendered “sing out loud.” The last line of verse 10 as well as this verse focus on people rather than the inanimate places where they live. Unlike Good News Translation, Bible en français courant reflects this here by saying “Let the people sing songs in the cities of the desert” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

The villages that Kedar inhabits is parallel to the previous line. It refers specifically to the Kedar people who lived in the Arabian Desert (see the comments on 21.16-17). The verb phrase lift up their voice is implied here. The Hebrew word rendered villages refers to an open area enclosed by walls (see 1.12, where it is translated “courts”). In this context it may be rendered “small villages” or “compounds.”

Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains: In these two parallel lines the prophet also invites the people of Sela to praise Yahweh. The inhabitants of Sela refers to the Edomites who lived in the city of Sela, which is also called Petra (probably different from the “Sela” mentioned in 16.1). It was located on the high mountains that border the eastern side of the Dead Sea, which explains the reference to the top of the mountains. The verbs sing for joy and shout both refer to loud joyous praise (see the comments on 12.6, where the Hebrew verb for “sing for joy” is the same, but the verb for “shout” is slightly different). For many languages it will be necessary to add an object to the verbs, for example, they may be rendered “sing joyful songs” and “call out his praise.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• May the people of the towns in the deserts raise their voices [in praise],
together with those in the villages of Kedar.
May the inhabitants of the city of Sela sing joyous songs,
calling out in praise from the mountain tops.

• Let those in the towns of the deserts praise Yahweh loudly,
let Kedar’s villagers sing his praises.
Let those in Sela sing joyous songs to him,
let them shout praise to him from the mountain heights.

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 .