Despite their confession of sin, the people of Judah still believe Yahweh will forgive them and come to their aid because of his relationship with them. The first half of this verse contains two requests to the LORD not to do something. The second half contains the positive request to consider something.

Be not exceedingly angry, O LORD: The people ask Yahweh to place limits on his angry response to their failures. The Hebrew phrase rendered exceedingly can have a temporal meaning (“for too long”), a spatial meaning (“too large”), or a sense of degree (“too much”). It is the same phrase rendered “sorely” in verse 12, where it refers to the extent or degree of an action (see also Lam 5.22). Like Revised Standard Version, most versions render the phrase as expressing degree rather than time or space; for example, Good News Translation renders this line as “so do not be too angry with us” (similarly Bible en français courant). However, a temporal meaning is possible since it is parallel to for ever (literally “to the time”) in the next line (see the second example below).

And remember not iniquity for ever is parallel to the previous line. As often before, the verb remember does not simply mean to recall something forgotten (compare verse 5). Here the people are asking for more than God to not remember their sins. They want him to stop punishing them for their past failures. Good News Translation expresses this line well with “[do not] hold our sins against us forever.”

Behold, consider, we are all thy people: The word Behold calls God’s attention to the following statement. The speakers want him to think about the fact that they are his people. Consider is literally “look now.” New International Version is similar with “look upon us, we pray” (similarly Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). A less literal model is “Do not forget.” We are all thy people is the basis for the plea for God’s help. This clause repeats the phrase “we [are] all” from verses 6 and 8.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• O LORD, do not be so angry [with us],
do not continue to hold our sins against us.
Look, take into account that we are all your people.

• O LORD, do not be angry with us forever,
nor regard us permanently as sinners.
Think about the fact that all of us are your people.

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 .

This verse links to the previous one as a description of Yahweh’s appearance. He comes to punish those who oppose his faithful people.

Hark, an uproar from the city!: The Hebrew text of this verse is very well structured with three statements that each begin with the Hebrew noun qol (“voice/sound”). The word qol is repeated to build up to the climax in the last statement. Revised Standard Version renders the first occurrence of qol as Hark, which makes it difficult to see the close connection among all three statements. This Hebrew noun can mean “voice,” “noise,” or “sound.” So the first line is literally “The sound of an uproar from the city,” which refers to the ear-shattering noise as Yahweh makes his appearance in the city of Jerusalem. It is clear from the last two lines that Yahweh is making this sound. For uproar see the comments on 13.4.

A voice from the temple specifies that the noise is coming from the Temple.

The voice of the LORD, rendering recompense to his enemies refers to the loud voice of the LORD as he pronounces judgment on his enemies. The Hebrew word for recompense refers to a just reward, whether punishment or rescue (see the comments on 35.4). Here it refers to the punishment the people deserve. The Hebrew term rendered enemies is usually reserved for foreign enemies of Israel. But in this context Yahweh’s enemies are those who have contaminated their worship of him with Canaanite practices. They will get what they deserve. Good News Translation builds up well to this climax in the verse, which other languages may find helpful.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The noise of uproar from the city!
A noise from the Temple!
It is the noise of the LORD’s voice,
proclaiming punishment for his enemies.

• There is a sound of an uproar in the city,
a sound that comes from the Temple.
It is the sound of Yahweh
as he announces judgment on his enemies.

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 .