But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust: The connector But indicates a contrast with the previous subsection. Yahweh will bring enemies to besiege Jerusalem, but he will also defeat them. The multitude of your foes probably refers to numerous soldiers in the enemy army rather than to many different enemy armies. There is a textual problem with the phrase your foes. Many translations the reading “your enemies/foes,” but Masoretic Text has “your strangers” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, RSV footnote). New American Bible says “your arrogant [ones],” which follows Dead Sea Scrolls. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project cautiously recommends Masoretic Text, but says that “your strangers” refers to Jerusalem’s enemies in a derogatory way. So translators may say “your enemies,” since it is implied. Shall be like small dust means the enemies will become like fine powder that is easily blown away. A possible alternative is “will be like [fine] sand.”

And the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff: The multitude of the ruthless refers to a large army that terrifies its opponents. The Hebrew word for ruthless comes from a root meaning “to be terrified.” It occurs again in verse 20, and its verbal form appears in verse 23, where it is rendered “stand in awe.” For more comments on ruthless, see 13.11 and 25.3. New American Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh render ruthless as “tyrants,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “warriors.” The multitude of the ruthless may be rendered “the large army of terrifying soldiers” (similarly Good News Translation). Passing chaff is a literal rendering of the Hebrew. It is better to say “flying chaff” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “chaff that is blown away.” For chaff see 17.13.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• But the enemy hordes will become like fine powder,
the hordes of terrifying warriors like chaff that is blown away.

• But the large army of the enemy will be like fine powder,
the large army of mighty warriors like blown chaff.

Several traditional images are used here to describe the awesome appearance of Yahweh, associated with power and destruction. This description recalls how he appeared to the Israelites on Mount Sinai in Exo 19.16-19, and to Elijah in 1 Kgs 19.11-12. The message here is that Yahweh himself will intervene, rather than act through an agent.

And in an instant, suddenly introduces the following statement. This phrase renders two Hebrew words that also occur in 30.13 and Num 6.9. It expresses extreme haste.

You will be visited by the LORD of hosts: The Hebrew verb rendered visited can have a positive or negative sense (see the comments on 23.17). If it has a positive sense here, then it may be rendered “rescued” with the pronoun you referring to Jerusalem (so Good News Translation; see the second example below). If it has a negative sense, it may be rendered “punished” with the pronoun you referring to Jerusalem’s enemies (see the first example below). Third person references are used for its enemies in verse 5, but it is not unusual for Hebrew poetry to switch pronouns. Translators may express either sense here. For the LORD of hosts, see the comments on 1.9.

With thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire: The preposition with does not mean that Yahweh will come “together with” the natural phenomena mentioned here. It means that when he appears, his actions will be like these things. It may be best in many languages to list the natural phenomena without the preposition (see the first example below). An alternative is to use similes: “his coming will be like thunder….” This is quite different from Good News Translation‘s translation, which suggests that Yahweh will actually use these natural phenomena to rescue Jerusalem. This loses sight of the fact that these are metaphors representing Yahweh’s actions.

There is alliteration with the Hebrew words for thunder and earthquake, which are raʿam and raʿash. An earthquake is described in 24.18-20. With thunder and with earthquake and great noise may be rendered “in a great thunderstorm, while the earth is shaking/trembling, with plenty of noise.” For whirlwind see 5.28 and 21.1; for tempest see the comments on 28.2, even though a different Hebrew word is used there. These are strong and destructive winds. After Yahweh blows away the enemies of Jerusalem, he will destroy them like a devouring fire.

For the translation of verses 5b-6 consider the following examples:

• 5b In a flash, suddenly,
6 they will be punished by Yahweh of hosts—
thunder, earthquake, and great noise,
storm, wind, and devouring flames.

• 5b And all in a moment, in an instant,
6 you will be rescued by the LORD of hosts;
he will come with great noise like heavy thunder and like a strong earthquake,
like a very strong wind and a storm,
and like the flames of a destroying 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 .