Why is it, O Israel, why is it…?: The Greek repeats the long question here in this manner. This serves to give the question that follows a note of earnestness. It contributes nothing to the meaning, but it does contribute to the emotional tone. Notice that there are really four questions introduced by this double Why: … that you are in the land … that you are growing old … that you are defiled … that you are counted…? Good News Translation meets the challenge of the structure here by repeating the “Why” with the second question, rather than by having one long question. Good News Translation goes on to convert the last two questions into statements, but concludes with “But why?” which leads easily into the answer to all these questions, given in verse 12. Contemporary English Version uses statements for the four questions, but concludes with “Don’t you know why these things are happening to you?” This is another possible alternative.

Notice that Israel as a nation is being addressed, so in Greek the pronoun you is singular in these two verses.

You are in the land of your enemies … you are growing old in a foreign country: In many languages it will be possible to use phrases with similar meanings for the land of your enemies and a foreign country; for example, Good News Translation has “an enemy land” and “a foreign country.” However, it is also possible to combine the first two clauses as Contemporary English Version has done with “You have lived in this enemy land so long that you are now much older.”

The Greek verb rendered are growing old is an aorist verb. Most versions, like Good News Translation (“have … grown old”), translate this as a verb in past time, which reflects the Greek text better. It is a bit difficult to justify Revised Standard Version here, except to say that if someone is growing old, they are already old to some extent. Actually, the tense of this verb plays a part in the scholarly debate over the date of the book, or at least of this portion. This verse seems to indicate that the Jews have been in exile for some time, whereas 1.1-3 rather sounds like it has been a short time. The whole question is complicated, and since there are no clear answers to the questions of how this book was composed, the translator is well advised not to translate in order to justify a particular theory of dating. The Greek verb used here means “grown old” not simply in the sense of “aged”; it has the sense of being old and worn out, like clothing. Compare the description of exile in Deut 28.65-66.

You are defiled with the dead: There are several possibilities for interpretation here. They may be set out as follows:
(a) The Jews have been rendered ritually unclean by their contact with the Gentiles in the land of their exile.
(b) Being in exile is like life in the land of the dead; therefore they are as good as dead (see Psa 88.4-5) and are therefore ritually unclean.
(c) The people have defiled themselves in the foreign land by idolatry (compare Jer 2.23; Ezek 20.31).
(d) The Greek text is a mistranslation of the Hebrew text that may have read “you are similar to the dead.” The Hebrew for “defiled with” and “similar to” are very much alike in spelling and sound. This remains a scholarly conjecture, however, with no manuscript support.

Most writers prefer interpretation (b) above, and Good News Translation commits itself to this by its translation. This approach provides an easy transition between this line and the lines before and after it. The meaning of defiled or “ritually unclean” (Good News Translation) is made clearer in Contemporary English Version with “You are unfit to worship the Lord and are unclean, like a dead body.”

You are counted among those in Hades: Hades is the land of the dead; see the comments on Bar 2.17. The meaning is that although Israel is still alive, her people are as good as dead. Good News Translation has “You are already counted among the dead.” This may also be expressed in the active voice: “In fact, they [or, people] already think of you as dead” or “… treat you as if you were dead.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.