In this verse the prophet tells his people that they will think about certain things. The subject of this meditation is summarized in three brief questions. The form of each question is similar, each beginning with Where is he who…? All the questions are rhetorical. They imply that nobody knows where these people are. We need to give the context for these questions before we can really understand what they mean. Verse 1 speaks about foreigners who oppressed the land of Judah. They probably demanded taxes from the people of Judah. So these rhetorical questions imply that those who made these demands are no longer present. They no longer occupy Judah.

Your mind will muse on the terror is literally “Your heart will meditate on terror.” This means the people will think about the terrible oppression they have experienced in the past. We may say “You will think about [or, reflect on] the terrible things that happened [in the past].”

Some languages may need to introduce the following questions with a quote frame, such as “You will ask” (see the first example below).

Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? is literally “Where is the one who counted, where is the one who weighed?” In Hebrew the verbs for counted and weighed do not have objects. Revised Standard Version supplies the word tribute. As noted above, these two questions probably refer to paying taxes to the foreign oppressors mentioned in verse 1. The people responsible for counting and weighing these taxes to ensure that they are correct are no longer present because the invaders have left. The verb weighed is used because often the tribute was precious metals such as gold and silver, as well as food. Since the Hebrew does not have objects for the verbs in these two questions, translators should avoid adding the word tribute if possible. Revised English Bible does this by saying “Where then is he that reckoned, where is he that weighed…?” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh is similar with “Where is the one who could count? Where is the one who could weigh?” If objects are needed for these verbs in the receptor language, general terms may be used; for example, the questions may be rendered “Where is the person who counted things? Where is the person weighed things?” Translators may mention the idea of paying taxes in a footnote.

Where is he who counted the towers?: Towers may be the object of the first question also. However, it is difficult to know what this question means in the context. New International Version has “Where is the officer in charge of the towers?” Bible en français courant interprets this question as referring to the invaders who checked out Jerusalem’s defenses before attacking it: “Where are those who inspected the fortifications?” This may also be the idea behind Good News Translation‘s free rendering, which speaks of spies. Revised English Bible changes towers to “treasures,” but it gives no explanation for this. Translators should keep the idea of towers here, but add a footnote indicating that the meaning of the question in Hebrew is uncertain. For towers see the comments on 2.15.

Good News Translation gives a very free rendering of this verse by summarizing it without any questions. This model may be helpful in languages that do not favor the use of rhetorical questions, but where those languages want to stay closer to the repetition in the Hebrew, they could render each question as “He who … is [definitely] no longer present/here.” Other translation examples for this verse are:

• You will think about past terrors.
You will ask, “Where is the person who counted things?
Where is the person who weighed everything?
Where is the person who counted the towers?”

• You will think about having been terrorized.
You will wonder where those are who counted,
where those are who weighed out things,
where those are who counted the towers.

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 .