Further disasters will befall the nation of Judah. In these two parallel lines the prophet describes the end of the army.

Your men shall fall by the sword: The pronoun Your is feminine, but it is singular, and does not refer to the women of the previous verses. There is a change of perspective here: Jerusalem is being addressed as a woman (see the comments on 1.8). Good News Translation has made this clear by beginning a new paragraph here and by translating Your men as “The men of the city.” Bible en français courant also makes it clear by starting a new section here for 3.25—4.1 (entitled “The widows of Jerusalem”) and by beginning this verse with “Jerusalem, your men….” Your men refers to those who were old enough to fight. Fall by the sword is a literal rendering of the Hebrew idiom here, which means “be killed in battle.” In many languages this will have to be made explicit, maybe even without using the word sword.

And your mighty men in battle: The verb shall fall from the first line applies here as well. Mighty men is synonymous with men, but it may imply a higher rank, so a possible rendering is “captains.” The Hebrew word for mighty men is from the same root as the word for “mighty man” in verse 2; see the comments there. Good News Translation has simplified the structure of this verse since the same verb governs both lines and in battle means the same thing as by the sword.

An alternative model for this verse is:

• Jerusalem, your [singular] soldiers will die by the sword,
your warriors [or, your captains] will die in battle.

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 .