Truth is lacking continues the theme of the loss of honesty in public life. The Hebrew verb rendered is lacking refers to something that is missing either because it was never present in the first place or because it has been lost. The English verb is lacking could suggest that there was some small amount of truth present, but not enough of it. That is reflected in Good News Translation‘s rendering of this line: “There is so little honesty.” However, here it is better to say “There is no honesty at all.” New International Version reflects this sense with “Truth is nowhere to be found,” and so does New Jerusalem Bible with “Good faith has vanished.”

And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey is the result of the sinful situation just described. In such a situation those who want to do the right thing, telling the truth and living justly, will suffer for it. The noun prey usually refers to small animals that are hunted and killed by larger animals. As here, it can also be applied to people, meaning that some people are attacked by others. By trying to live as God requires, they become victims in the community rather than being honored for rejecting evil. Good News Translation expresses this line clearly, and so does Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “Those who distance themselves from injustice become the victims of the others.” New Jerusalem Bible says “anyone abstaining from evil is victimized.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Truth is nowhere to be found,
and those who reject evil are victimized.

• Truthfulness has been lost altogether,
and those who turn from evildoing become victims.

The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice is literally “And the LORD saw and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice.” The climax in these two lines is the fact that justice was absent from the lives of the people of Judah. The pronoun it points forward to this fact. The phrase there was no occurs three times in verses 15b-16. For justice see the previous verse. A possible model for verse 15b is “The LORD saw that there was no justice and it displeased him.” The last clause may be placed first to show the emphasis present in the Hebrew text as follows: “There was no justice. That is what the LORD saw, and it displeased him.” Revised English Bible is similar with “There was no justice, and when the LORD saw it he was displeased.” This is a good example to follow.

Good News Translation seems to be the only version consulted that uses present and future tense verbs in verses 15b-17. All other versions consulted use past tense verbs, which we recommend.

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 .