In this verse God continues to call the people of Israel blind and deaf because of their disobedience. He asks four rhetorical questions to make strong accusations against them. The first and third questions begin with the interrogative pronoun Who, which is implied in the other two questions.

Who is blind but my servant is the first rhetorical question. It states emphatically that nobody is quite as blind as Yahweh’s servant. For blind see the previous verse. In this context my servant clearly refers to God’s people, the Israelites (see the comments on 41.8). For this whole question Bible en français courant has “Who is found to be blind, if not my servant?”

Or deaf as my messenger whom I send is parallel to the previous question. Nobody is as deaf as the messenger God sends. For deaf see the previous verse. My messenger whom I send also refers to Israel. The Hebrew noun rendered messenger refers to someone who carries a message for another. Most versions use the present tense for the verb send, implying something timeless. It may also be rendered “have sent.”

Who is blind as my dedicated one is the third rhetorical question. No one is as blind as Yahweh’s dedicated one. My dedicated one is parallel to my servant and my messenger, referring also to Israel. The Hebrew term rendered my dedicated one could mean Israel has dedicated itself to Yahweh, or Yahweh has dedicated Israel to himself for a purpose. New International Version expresses the first meaning with “the one committed to me.” However, the second sense fits the context better. An alternative rendering that expresses this sense is “the one I appointed to serve me fully/wholeheartedly.”

Or blind as the servant of the LORD is parallel to the previous question. It repeats the first question, saying that no one is as blind as Yahweh’s servant. Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible emend the Hebrew text to read “deaf” instead blind. Since the first two lines use blind and deaf as parallels, Revised English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible expect it in the last two lines also. However, we agree with Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and de~Waard that translators should not make this change. Since Yahweh is speaking here, some translators may want to change the servant of the LORD to “my servant” (so Good News Translation).

Good News Translation collapses the four lines of this verse into two. Some languages may prefer to repeat the interrogative pronoun Who four times as follows:

• Who is as blind as my servant?
Who is as deaf as my messenger that I have sent?
Who is as blind as the one I have dedicated to myself?
Who is as blind as the LORD’s servant?

Others may choose to render the rhetorical questions as strong statements as follows:

• There is none so blind as my servant,
none so deaf as the messenger I have sent.
There is none so blind as the one I have appointed to serve me wholeheartedly,
nor so blind as the LORD’s servant.

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 .