The thought of the previous verse continues here: the city of Zion will be too small for its inhabitants.

The children born in the time of your bereavement is literally “the children of your bereavement/childlessness,” which refers to the Israelite children born in exile. The time of your bereavement is a highly poetic way of describing the time when the city had lost its population and was thus “bereaved” and in mourning. When the people were taken captive to Babylonia it was as though everyone had died. This line does not refer to the loss of her husband, as Contemporary English Version states rather explicitly. The Septuagint stresses the sense of “childlessness” by saying “your children whom you had lost.” Similar translations are New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh with “The children you thought you had lost,” Bible en français courant with “You thought you had been deprived of sons,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “You were like a childless woman.” None of these translations make any direct reference to children born during the exile, but they may imply it. Good News Translation has perhaps the most direct rendering by saying “Your people who were born in exile.”

Will yet say in your ears: The children born in exile will return to Zion and speak to it. There is a strong sense of pleading in their words, so that the verb say may be rendered “request.” The Hebrew adverb rendered yet may also be translated “again.” It refers to repeated action. Good News Translation renders it “one day,” but we do not recommend this.

The place is too narrow for me echoes God’s comment in the previous verse. It is intended as a message of great comfort to Zion, because the city that had lost its population will now overflow with people. It is a message of God’s abundant blessing.

Make room for me to dwell in is the people’s request. Since so many are returning from exile, the people will ask for the city to be enlarged so that everyone can live within its walls. Make room for me is literally “Move away from me,” which means “Give me some space!” It would be the solution to the cramped conditions in the city. Good News Translation expresses this line well with “we need more room to live in.” New International Version is also helpful, saying “give us more space to live in.” Since the fact that the city is too small is the reason for this request, translators may make this explicit (see the first example below).

Good News Translation changes the first person singular pronouns (me) in the last two lines of this verse to plural (also New International Version, Revised English Bible), since more than one person is speaking. Other languages may find this helpful.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The children born after the city was bereft [or, The children born in exile]
will request more space to live in,
because the city is too small for them all.

• The children born when the city was bereft of its people
will again say to you,
‘This place is too small for us.
We need more space for us to live [here]!’

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 .