According to this verse, God will cleanse Israel before he makes the changes promised in the previous two verses. Again, the prophet uses parallel clauses to express what the Lord will do.
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion: The Lord is not the name Yahweh, but the title meaning “my master” (see 1.2). The Hebrew verb rendered washed away occurred in 1.16. There Yahweh called the people to wash themselves and be clean from their social evils. Here he himself will wash away their filth. The verb is used figuratively here, so it is not clear what Yahweh will actually do to make them clean again. Translators should keep the verb “wash away,” as if water were used. The filth is not defined, but it is a figurative expression standing for evil and sin. Good News Translation suggests “guilt.”
For the daughters of Zion, see the comments on 3.16. This phrase is one of the important links binding this section to the previous one. However, here it probably refers to all the people of Jerusalem, not just the women. Good News Translation has “the nation,” and Contemporary English Version says “the city and its people.” Bible en français courant, however, maintains the expression it had in 3.16|prj:FRC97.Isa 3.16: “the ladies of Jerusalem.”
And cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst: This parallel clause also speaks of Yahweh’s action in making the people clean again. The bloodstains of Jerusalem probably refers to the lack of justice as well as other actions that harm the poor and defenseless members of the community. “Blood” here represents violence and injustice in general, with murder as the supreme example of these. Therefore the bloodstains of Jerusalem should not be understood in its physical sense, but rather as a figure for the death and suffering caused by those who live in Jerusalem. It may be necessary to make this sense clear in translation. Good News Translation has done so with “wash away … the blood that has been shed there.” From its midst is an adverbial phrase simply meaning “from it.”
By a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning: This set of parallel phrases describes how Yahweh will do the cleansing. The cleansing agent normally is water, but here the prophet describes it as a spirit. Although spirit recalls the spirit of God moving at the time of creation (Gen 1.2), there is nothing here that parallels that sense. New Jerusalem Bible suggests “wind,” but that doesn’t fit the context very well (but see Bible en français courant below). There are similar uses of the word spirit in Isaiah, such as “a spirit of confusion” in 19.14 and “a spirit of justice” in 28.6, so it is probable that by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning means “by a process of fiery judgment.” The Hebrew words rendered judgment and burning were translated “judgment” and “devoured” in 3.14. Burning is used metaphorically here. We can think of a process of purification by fire (see 1.25) by which Yahweh will make the nation clean. What specific actions Yahweh will take are not described. New American Bible neatly combines these two phrases by saying “with a blast of searing judgment.” Bible en français courant offers a useful model, but without the word burning: “The Lord will make a wind of justice and purification blow.”
Contemporary English Version shortens the verse by combining parts of it as follows: “after the LORD sends a fiery judgment to clean the city and its people of their violent deeds.”
Translation examples for this verse are:
• … when the Lord washes the filth from the women of Zion and the bloodshed caused by [the people of] Jerusalem. He will do this by means of a judgment by fire.
• … when the Lord’s fiery judgment removes the filth from Zion and the bloody deeds from Jerusalem.
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 .