Not only will the people of Judah be restored, but also their cities and villages that the Babylonians destroyed. Despite the edict of Cyrus (45.13), the rebuilding throughout Judah was not completed yet.

And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt is literally “and they will build from among you the ruins of antiquity.” The Hebrew verb rendered shall be rebuilt has an active form in Masoretic Text, not a passive one. Good News Translation and New International Version keep an active verb by beginning this line with “Your people will rebuild” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The prepositional phrase “from among you” could mean “some of you,” and be the subject of the verb. Ancient ruins (Good News Translation “what has long been in ruins”) is an accurate description of the destroyed cities of Judah, because at the time the prophet was speaking, the destruction had taken place close to 100 years before. So these ruins had remained unrestored for a long time. An alternative model for this whole line is “Your people will rebuild all the cities that were destroyed long ago.”

You shall raise up the foundations of many generations: The foundations of many generations refers to the cities’ foundations that were laid long ago, in past generations. To raise up these foundations means to build on top of them, not lifting them. Good News Translation expresses this line clearly with “building again on the old foundations.” A visit to these ancient cities shows how this process of building on top of ancient ruins and foundations was common practice. (Building on top of the foundations and ruins of ancient cities and using the rocks and other materials left there has resulted in large mounds where these ancient cities once stood. The mounds are called tells.)

You shall be called the repairer of the breach means the people will be praised because they will carry out the repairs to the cities and their walls. Instead of you shall be called, Good News Translation has “You will be known as.” Breach refers to holes or breaks in the city walls. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh speaks of “fallen walls,” but this gives the impression that the entire wall structure had fallen. An invading army usually broke through a portion of a city’s surrounding wall to enter the city and capture it. It is unlikely that the army completely destroyed the wall later (see Neh 2.13). Revised English Bible expresses this line well with “you will be called the rebuilder of broken walls.” New International Version is similar with “you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls.” By using capital letters, New International Version considers “Repairer of Broken Walls” to be an honorary title given to the people. It does this also in the next line (similarly New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

The restorer of streets to dwell in is a further recognition that the people will be remembered for the restoration work they do. The Hebrew participle rendered restorer comes from a verb meaning “turn back” or “return.” We could say that they will “bring back” the streets where people live. The noun translated streets (literally “paths”) is a correct rendering of the Hebrew, but some would argue that people do not dwell in streets. They suggest that the Hebrew noun for streets (netiboth) should be emended to read “ruins” (netisoth). Good News Translation and Revised English Bible follow this suggestion, but most other modern versions retain Masoretic Text; for example, New International Version renders this line as “Restorer of Streets with Dwellings,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “Restorer of streets to be lived in.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• You will rebuild what was ruined long ago,
you will rebuild on the old foundations.
They will call you ‘Repairers of the broken walls’
and ‘Restorers of streets where people live.’

• You will rebuild the old ruins,
you will rebuild on foundations laid by former generations.
People will call you the ones who repaired the broken walls,
the ones who restored the streets where people live.

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 .