Behold, the Lord GOD helps me: For the Lord GOD helps me, see the comments on Isa 50.7. Here this clause is more emphatic since it is introduced by the word Behold instead of the common Hebrew conjunction. Behold is repeated in the second half of the verse. New Jerusalem Bible has “Look” twice, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh uses “Lo” once. But most translations, including New Revised Standard Version, omit Behold altogether in this verse. Good News Translation gives helps a legal sense, rendering this line as “The Sovereign LORD himself defends me.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “The LORD, the mighty God, stands up for me.” In the context of a legal challenge, God’s help would be in the form of a defense.

Who will declare me guilty? continues the legal language of the previous verse. This is a rhetorical question that indicates that nobody has reason to declare the servant guilty of any wrongdoing. Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, and Bible en français courant use the auxiliary verb “can” instead the future tense. Revised English Bible has “who then can declare me guilty?” New International Version says “Who is he that will condemn me?” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). A model that uses a strong statement instead of the rhetorical question is “No one [at all] will [be able to] declare me guilty” (see also the second example below).

Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up: For Behold see the comments above. The pronoun them refers to those who beat and humiliate the servant (verse 6). They are those who are unable to accuse him successfully in court. Good News Translation speaks of “my accusers,” and Bible en français courant has “My opponents.” Such people will wear out like a garment, that is, they will become useless just as clothing wears out through repeated use. The comparison with clothing is maintained in the moth will eat them up. Moths do not completely eat up a garment that is stored away; rather, they spoil it by eating holes in it, making it unfit to wear. Normally it has to be thrown away unless it can be repaired. In a figurative way this will be the fate of any who accuse the servant. Just as moths can ruin clothing, so those who accuse the servant will be brought to ruin.

Strictly speaking there are two images in the last two lines of this verse: clothing becoming old through continuous wear, and clothing becoming spoiled by moths. Like Revised Standard Version, many translations try to keep both; for example, Contemporary English Version has “My accusers will wear out like moth-eaten clothes,” and Bible en français courant says “My opponents will all wear out like clothing that falls to shreds, devoured by the moths.” Good News Translation uses only the simile of the moth-eaten cloth and makes the point of comparison explicit by saying “All my accusers will disappear; they will vanish like moth-eaten cloth.” New Jerusalem Bible is similar with “Look at them, all falling apart like moth-eaten clothes!” We recommend that translators maintain both images; for example, “Look, all my accusers will become like worn-out clothes/garments/dresses; they will come to ruin like moth-eaten clothes/garments/dresses” (see also the examples below). In cultures where “moths” are unknown, the name of another destructive insect or a general term for “insects” can be used.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Look, my Master Yahweh helps me;
who then can say I am guilty?
Look, all my accusers will become like worn-out garments,
made useless like a moth-eaten garment.

• Look, my Lord Yahweh is my helper;
nobody can declare me guilty [of anything].
Look, all who accuse me will be ruined,
just like a worn-out garment or one eaten by moths.

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 .