For …: This is the second explanatory sentence in this section. Again For may be rendered “Because.” The poet develops the ideas of the preceding verses. The people rejoice that the battle has ended. The burning of the soldiers’ battle dress signals this.
Every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult: Two items of clothing worn by soldiers are referred to here: boots and garments. Boot of the tramping warrior is literally “boot of the one wearing the boot” or “boot of the booted one.” The noun boot and the participle tramping come from the same Hebrew root. The noun warrior (Good News Translation “army”) is added to explain the meaning of this phrase. The Hebrew word rendered battle tumult presents a slight problem because it can mean “wickedness” (so NJPSV footnote|prj:NJPS.Isa 9.4) or “quaking/shaking/fearsome noise.” A good rendering for it in this context is “fierce battle.” Good News Translation simply renders it “invading.” For this whole line Revised English Bible uses vivid language: “The boots of earth-shaking armies on the march.”
Every garment rolled in blood describes poetically the bloodstained clothes of the soldiers. They are so stained in bloody battle that they appear to be rolled or dipped in blood. A possible rendering is “all soldiers’ uniforms/clothes stained with blood.”
Will be burned as fuel for the fire is literally “and it will be for burning, food of fire.” This simply means the clothes of the soldiers will be burned. The passive verb here may require an active form in some languages. If so, the agent will need to be identified. Rather than having God as the agent, we may begin the verse with “They [or, People] will burn….” Even though this main verb phrase occurs at the end of the verse, some languages will need to place it first.
Translation examples for this verse are:
• They will burn all the soldiers’ boots that stomped into fierce battle,
and all their blood-soaked garments they will feed to the fire.
• The boots of warriors going to battle and their blood-stained clothes,
all will be fed into the fire.
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 .
On the translation difficulty you reference (“The Hebrew word rendered battle tumult presents a slight problem because it can mean “wickedness”). My son noted the evil nature of combat upon his return home from Iraq in 2004, where he had been involved in numerous gun-battles. His self assessment upon his return was: “We are all murderers . . .” He was in soul-trouble at that time because, though he thought himself to be engaged in a Just War, the actual experience of collateral damage from shelling and firing upon insurgent strongholds, where women and children were killed in the violent back-and-forth, left him feeling guilt and an agent of the “wickedness” you describe. Non-combatants don’t fully grasp this, but anyone who has been at war knows that, no matter how just the cause, it is an evil and a wickedness that warriors have to deal with upon their return to civilization (see Num. 31:13f).
Thank you for sharing!