The people continue their confession with four similes. The first two use examples of uncleanness, while the second two use examples from nature: leaves and wind. The first and the third lines describe the people, the second and the fourth ones depict their actions.

We have all become like one who is unclean means the whole community has become like a person who is ritually unfit to worship God. There is a break in their relationship with God. For the idea of unclean, see the comments on 6.5. Good News Translation does not retain the simile here, but opts for a rendering that states why the people compare themselves to an unclean person, namely, because of their sins. This may be a valid option in languages where the religious sense of the term unclean would not be immediately clear. Bible en français courant (1997) maintains the simile but also explains it by rendering this line as “We are all unfit for your service, like an unclean object.”

And all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment compares all the people’s good deeds with bloodstained clothing. The Hebrew word rendered polluted occurs only here in the Old Testament. It refers to menstrual blood. In Old Testament culture this blood made a woman “unclean,” not in a sanitary sense, but in a ritual sense. The language of this simile was intended to shock its readers. It stresses that even their attempts at goodness fail and cannot restore their relationship with God. Bible en français courant (1997) has “and all our fine actions are as disgusting as a piece of cloth stained with blood.” Good News Translation removes the simile, saying more directly “even our best actions are filthy through and through.”

We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away: In these two lines the people compare themselves to a leaf that withers, and their sins to the wind that blows them away. Their sins cause their downfall. We all is repeated to emphasize that the whole community is involved in sinful activities. The Hebrew verb rendered fade, applied to leaves, means that they wither and fall from the tree (see 1.30, where it is translated “withers”). For iniquities see the comments on 1.4 and 40.2. Good News Translation modifies the similes in these two lines slightly. It keeps the comparison with leaves and the wind, but makes it explicit that sins are the cause of the community’s downfall. Bible en français courant stays closer to the Hebrew with “Our faults carry us all away like dead leaves swept away by the wind.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• We are all like unclean persons,
even our good deeds are like a stained garment.
We all wither like a leaf,
our sins carry us away just as the wind blows things.

• We are all like soiled people,
even the good we do is like nothing but dirty clothing.
Just as leaves wither and fall, so do we;
just as the wind blows away fallen leaves, so our sins carry us away.

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 .