But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit: Despite all that Yahweh did for the Israelites, they had a sad history of rebellion against him (see, for example, Psa 78.40; 106.32; Ezek 20). The Hebrew verb for rebelled occurs often in Deuteronomy to describe how Israel deliberately disobeyed the God who rescued them from slavery in Egypt (see, for example, Deut 1.26, 43). In many languages rebelled may require an object, so translators may add “against him,” as Good News Translation does. The result of the people’s rebellion is that God felt grieved, that is, deeply saddened and pained. For grieved see the comments on 54.6, where it is used to describe the feelings of an abandoned wife. There too the verb described the pain as being in her “spirit,” her inner being. His holy Spirit refers to God’s inner self, not the third person of the Trinity referred to in the New Testament (see the comments on 11.2). In the Old Testament the phrase holy Spirit is found only here and in verse 11 as well as in Psa 51.11. New International Version and Contemporary English Version say “Holy Spirit,” while New Jerusalem Bible and Bible en français courant use “holy Spirit,” as in Revised Standard Version. The use of capital letters is based on a theological position rather than on the specifics of this passage and its Old Testament context. In fact, some commentators suggest that this phrase represents a development that leads toward the New Testament’s understanding of the third person of the Trinity, so they recommend the use of the capital letters. However, the context here suggests that the Hebrew word for Spirit (ruach) refers to God’s inner self and not to an independent person, so translators should not use capital letters. New Revised Standard Version has “holy spirit.” Another possible rendering is “sacred heart,” since that is where emotional responses originate.

Therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them: In response to the rebellion of his people God opposed them (compare Psa 106.40-43). These two lines indicate that the hope expressed in verse 8 that they would not “deal falsely” with him was a vain hope. God opposed the Israelites by allowing their enemies to defeat them, first the Assyrians and then the Babylonians. However, God was directly responsible for the attacks on his people—God himself fought against them. It is possible to change this metaphor into a simile; see the examples below.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• But they rebelled against him
and saddened his holy spirit,
so God turned against them
and became like an enemy who fought against them.

• But they rebelled against him,
causing his sacred heart to grieve.
Then God became like an enemy to them,
fighting against them himself.

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 .