In Good News Translation the third person references to the LORD in this verse are replaced by first person pronouns, since he is still speaking (see the introductory comments on Isa 51.1).
The Hebrew particle ki rendered For introduces God’s promise of comfort to his people. It is an emphatic marker here, which is better rendered “Indeed,” “Surely,” or “Truly.” It gives assurance that God will comfort his people, just as he blessed them in the past. Most versions do not render it explicitly.
The LORD will comfort Zion is a summary statement. It promises peace of mind to the exiles and repeats the message with which the second part of the book began (see 40.1). Zion is the preferred name for Jerusalem and its people in this chapter (verses 11 and 16 also). Strictly speaking, Zion refers only to the original part of the city that later became Jerusalem (see the comments on 1.8). Good News Translation uses “Jerusalem” consistently. Translators who prefer to maintain the variety in terminology as well as the poetic impact of the source text may prefer to keep Zion.
He will comfort all her waste places refers to God’s promise to restore all that was devastated when the Babylonian army came and destroyed the kingdom of Judah. Good News Translation, New International Version, and Bible en français courant render waste places as “ruins,” which probably refers to the ruined towns and villages (see the comments on 44.26, where the Hebrew word for waste places is translated “ruins”). Revised English Bible says “ruined homes,” a somewhat narrower interpretation. The actual comfort that God will bring is to restore the devastated land. In languages where the verb comfort can only be used with people as the object, it may be possible to use “have pity on” (New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant) or “show compassion to” (Good News Translation; similarly New International Version). Good News Translation does not speak of comforting waste places, but of showing compassion to “all who live in her [Jerusalem’s] ruins.”
The two occurrences of the verb comfort are in the perfect form in Hebrew, implying that it refers to a completed event. Revised English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh give it this sense by saying “has comforted.” But others use the present tense (so New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Like Revised Standard Version, still others prefer to use the future tense (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version). It is probably best to use the future tense here since the other verbs in this verse are in the imperfect form in Hebrew, referring to future events (so all the versions consulted). The Hebrew perfect indicates that the LORD’s future comfort is so certain that he describes it as an already accomplished fact. This whole verse gives God’s promises for the future.
And will make her wilderness like Eden: Her wilderness refers to the arid and virtually useless land to the east of the mountains on which Jerusalem stands (see the comments on 14.17, where the Hebrew word for wilderness is rendered “desert”). God will change it completely to become like Eden, the beautiful garden that he planted at the time of creation (see Gen 2.8-9). Like Eden may be rendered “like the garden of Eden.”
Her desert like the garden of the LORD is parallel to the previous line. The verb make also serves this line. Desert translates the Hebrew word ʿarabah (see the comments on 33.9). Here it is synonymous in meaning with wilderness (compare 40.3). The garden of the LORD is another way to refer to the garden of Eden. It is an image of an ideal land in which water and every necessary food are available. It depicts “paradise,” the term used in the Septuagint to refer to the garden of Eden. For this line Bible en français courant has “of that dry land he will make a paradise.” Since this line is parallel and synonymous with the previous one, translators may wish to combine them by saying “I will make her desert like the garden of Eden.”
Joy and gladness will be found in her: This line recalls 35.10 (see the comments there). God promises a complete change from the exiles’ present harsh and difficult situation to one in which joy and gladness are always present. Joy and gladness is repeated in verse 11, linking this section with the next one. Will be found in her is better rendered “will be present there” or simply “will be there” (Good News Translation). The pronoun her would normally refer to the garden, just mentioned. But this pronoun probably refers to Zion, as in the first half of the verse; towns are usually regarded as feminine in Hebrew.
Thanksgiving and the voice of song develops the theme of joy and gladness further. All four will be found in her. Thanksgiving translates a Hebrew noun that occurs only here in Isaiah, but it comes from the same root as the verb rendered “give thanks” in 12.1 (see the comments there). The voice of song means the sound of people singing. Bible en français courant expands the last two lines of this verse slightly, saying “And there the cries of an overflowing joy will resound, the praise songs and the musical tunes.”
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• Truly the LORD will comfort Zion,
he will comfort all her ruined places.
Her wilderness he will turn into Eden,
her desert will become like the LORD’s garden;
Joy and happiness will be there,
the sounds of thanksgiving and singing.
• Indeed, the LORD will bring comfort to Zion,
he will give comfort to all her ruined places.
He will make her wilderness like the garden of Eden,
her desert like the LORD’s garden.
Joy and happiness will be present there,
people will give thanks and sing for joy.
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 .