And …: How much time passed between these events and those described in verses 1-2 cannot be determined. From the narrative style here we only know that these events followed the writing of the tablet. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version add a paragraph break here and render the connector And as “Some time later.” Revised English Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch indicate a more immediate sequence of events by rendering it “Then.”

I went to the prophetess is a euphemistic expression for sexual contact (compare Gen 20.4). Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version leave this implied. Translators may follow these versions if they want to avoid listing the steps leading to a birth. Isaiah refers to his wife as the prophetess, which is unusual. This term refers to a female prophet, which she may have been. It could also simply mean that she was Isaiah’s wife. Good News Translation and Revised English Bible render the prophetess as “my wife,” which fits this context well.

And she conceived and bore a son makes clear the meaning of previous verb went to. Isaiah’s wife became pregnant and had a son.

Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz”: The child’s name recalls and therefore emphasizes the earlier message written in some public place. The way that this name is handled in verse 1 (using either transliteration or translation) should be adopted here as well.

For the translation of this verse we can say:

• Then I went to my wife who became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Yahweh then said to me, “Call your son’s name ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’”

• My wife and I then had a son and Yahweh told me to name him “Maher-shalal-hash-baz.”

• Then some time later my wife became pregnant and had a son. The LORD said, “Name him ‘The spoil comes quickly, the prey hurries.’”

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 .