Verse: Isa 43:8

Here Yahweh summons his people to court. Good News Translation identifies him as the speaker by beginning with “God says.” It also adds double quote marks around his speech in verses 8-13. Other languages may find this helpful.

Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes: The Hebrew imperative verb rendered Bring forth is singular. It is not clear whom God is addressing here. He is telling someone in general to bring his people to court. Good News Translation translates Bring forth as “Summon … to court,” and Bible en français courant has “Make appear [in court].” It is better not to refer explicitly to a court here, but it may be mentioned in a footnote. A rendering that does this is “Bring here before me.” The people refers to the Israelites. Good News Translation makes this clear by saying “my people.” Who are blind, yet have eyes does not refer to physical blindness, but it is a metaphor for disobeying God (compare 42.18-20). If possible, translators should keep this metaphor. A rendering that keeps it without the misunderstanding of physical blindness is “who are blind, yet have eyes that can see” (see also the second example below).

Who are deaf, yet have ears is parallel to the previous description of God’s people. It is another metaphor for disobedience. A rendering that keeps it without the misunderstanding of physical deafness is “who are deaf, yet have ears that can hear.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The LORD says,
“Summon my people who have eyes, but cannot see [anything],
who have ears, but cannot hear [anything].

• Yahweh says,
“Call together my people who have eyes, but are blind to me,
who have ears, but are deaf to me.

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 .