Verses 8-13 close with this antiphon or choral response that celebrates God’s promised comfort and compassion. The speaker is no longer the LORD. Who composed this song is not important. The prophet has inserted it here, calling on all of God’s creation to rejoice in what God is about to do. It is very similar in content and function to 44.23, a concluding song that also served to celebrate God’s rescue of his people (see the comments there for the format of this Hymn of Praise). Translators may format verse 13 as a separate stanza to mark its special function as a conclusion (so Good News Translation).

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing!: These three appeals are largely synonymous, calling all of creation to celebrate what God has just promised. The heavens, the earth, and the mountains in between them represent all of creation. These two lines are an example of all-inclusive parallelism. The sky, the earth, and the mountains are not assigned different tasks, but all of creation is to join in praise. Translators should look at the three appeals, and decide on the wording of the individual lines giving due consideration to matters of style and word choice. For Sing for joy, O heavens, see the comments on 44.23, where Revised Standard Version has “Sing, O heavens” although the Hebrew texts are identical. For exult see the comments on 29.19. For break forth, O mountains, into singing, see the comments on 44.23.

For the LORD has comforted his people: The connector For introduces two reasons why all of creation should celebrate. First, the LORD has comforted his people. Deutero-Isaiah opened with the double call to the prophet to bring comfort to God’s people (40.1). The comfort in that case was the message that God would rescue his people from exile. Now the prophet indicates that God has comforted them, so the created world can rejoice.

And will have compassion on his afflicted is the second reason for the celebration. God will show mercy toward his people who have suffered by being in exile. For the Hebrew verb rendered have compassion, see the comments on verse 10, where the same verb is translated “has pity.” There is a wordplay between this verb (racham in Hebrew) and the verb for has comforted (nacham in Hebrew), which strengthens the parallel statements. These two verbs are in different verb forms in Hebrew. God has already given comfort (Hebrew perfect) to his people with the announcement that they are to return from wherever they had been scattered. He will continue to have compassion (Hebrew imperfect) on them as they journey home and reestablish their lives in Judah.

For this whole verse Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Be joyful, heaven and earth; rejoice happily, you mountains! Because the LORD helps his people, he has pity on the oppressed.” Other possible models are:

• You heavens, sing joyously;
O earth, rejoice;
you mountains, sing songs of joy!
Because Yahweh has given comfort to his people,
and will be compassionate to those who have suffered.

• Sing happily, you heavens;
rejoice, O earth;
exult and celebrate, you mountains!
For the LORD comforts his people,
and shows mercy to his suffering ones.

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 .