Who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior: These two lines recall how Yahweh led the Egyptian army to attack the Israelites who were fleeing from Egypt (see Exo 14). The Hebrew verb rendered brings forth is another participle (see the comments on “makes” in the previous verse). Here this verb implies the destruction of the Egyptian army. Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch make this explicit by adding “to destruction” (similarly Revised English Bible). For chariot and horse, see the comments on 2.7 even though a different Hebrew word for chariot is used there. These nouns have a collective sense here, so they may be rendered “chariots and horses” (Good News Translation). Army and warrior is literally “strength/army and powerful,” so it is better rendered “a powerful army.” Other similar renderings are “a mighty army” (Good News Translation) and “an army in all its strength” (Revised English Bible). Good News Translation mentions the powerful army before its chariots and horses, which other languages may find helpful.

They lie down, they cannot rise: This line uses the figurative language of lying down and not rising again to refer to the deaths of the Egyptian soldiers. Good News Translation changes the imagery slightly with “Down they fell, never to rise” (similarly Bible en français courant), which other languages may find helpful. Contemporary English Version expresses this line nonfiguratively with “now they lie dead, unable to move.” The Hebrew verbs rendered lie down and rise are in the imperfect form, so they point to the future overthrow of the Babylonian army. Most versions use present or past tense here.

They are extinguished, quenched like a wick is parallel to the previous line, using different imagery. Here the prophet uses the simile of extinguishing the wick of an oil lamp to refer to the fate of the Egyptians. Yahweh extinguished them like someone snuffing out a wick. The Hebrew verbs rendered extinguished and quenched are in the perfect form. This form can refer to past events, or it can point to future events that will certainly take place, as if they had already happened. Most versions use present or past tense here. The passive verbs extinguished and quenched may be rendered in an active form by identifying the LORD as the agent (see the second example below). For quenched and wick, see the comments on 42.3. For cultures that do not have oil lamps, translators may use an alternative image for wick, such as “candle.”

There is a clever use of Hebrew verb forms in verses 16-17. The participles (“makes,” brings forth), the imperfect verb forms (lie down, rise), and the perfect verb forms (extinguished, quenched) refer to both the past Exodus from Egypt and the future Exodus from Babylonia. Translators will need to choose verb forms that fit the context naturally.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• … who sends forth chariots and horses,
and a powerful army;
together they fall, never to rise again,
extinguished and snuffed out like a candle:….

• He is the one who orders the chariots and horses to battle,
and a powerful army;
they fall together and will never rise again,
he extinguishes them and snuffs them out like an oil lamp.

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 .