The first half of this verse continues to describe Yahweh; in the last half the people begin to confess their sins again (see 63.10, 17).

Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness: The Hebrew verb rendered meetest has a wide semantic range. It can have a negative or positive sense, depending on the context. It is rendered “laid on” in 53.6, where punishment is implied, and this is what New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh believes it means here also. It has a positive sense in 47.3 (“spare”), 53.12 (“make intercession”), and 59.16 (“intervene”). In the present context it has a positive sense, which Good News Translation and Revised English Bible reflect by using the verb “welcome.” New International Version translates “come to the help of,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “are good to.” Him that joyfully works righteousness renders two Hebrew participles that are literally “the one who rejoices and the one who works righteousness.” The Septuagint omits the first participle, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends keeping it. Together these participles describe a person who delights in doing what is right and just. Both participles are singular, but they refer to all who joyfully do what is right, so Good News Translation uses the plural pronoun “those” instead of him. For righteousness see 1.21.

Those that remember thee in thy ways refers to those who worship God by following his laws. In this context remember thee does not mean to recall God because they forgot him, but to follow him by doing what he requires. The Hebrew preposition in may be rendered “by means of.” Thy ways refers to God’s requirements, his laws (compare 63.17). It does not refer to the way God behaves, but to the way the people are required to behave in order to please God. This is clear in Good News Translation, which renders this line as “those who remember how you want them to live,” and in Bible en français courant with “who intend to follow the ways you have traced.”

Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned: The word Behold marks a transition point in the lament as the people turn to confess their sin. This confession continues through verse 7. There is a slight difficulty in this line as it stands in Revised Standard Version, since it may give the impression that God’s anger led the people to sin. Revised English Bible expresses this sense explicitly with “When you showed your anger, we sinned.” But New International Version reverses the order of the two clauses here, stating that God was angry only after the people continued to sin: “But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry” (similarly Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). However, the Hebrew clause rendered thou wast angry is quite emphatic, so this line more likely means that despite God’s anger with the people, seen in the way they were sent into exile, they continued in their sinful ways. Good News Translation expresses this sense with “You were angry with us, but we went on sinning.” The common Hebrew conjunction for and sometimes expresses contrast, as it does here, so it may be rendered “but” or “yet.”

In our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?: There is a textual problem here, so the versions differ considerably from one another. Masoretic Text has strong textual support and is preferred by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. It reads “in them forever and we will be saved.” But what does it mean? First of all, the phrase “in them” probably refers back to “God’s ways,” though Revised Standard Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh link it back to the people’s sin. De~Waard favors the connection with God’s ways and recommends the following New Jerusalem Bible rendering as a model: “now we persist in your ways and we shall be saved.” This means God will rescue his people if they continue to obey his laws. An alternative model with this meaning is “If we persist in your ways, then we will be saved.” New Revised Standard Version renders an emended text, saying “because you hid yourself we transgressed.” This is a better parallel to the previous line, but it appears to be very different from the Hebrew text. Like New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation and Revised English Bible do not mention “be saved,” a verb that is clearly present in Masoretic Text. Revised Standard Version and New International Version render this line as a question, but this seems to be incorrect since there is no interrogative marker in Hebrew. Whatever model translators follow, they should add a footnote to indicate that the Hebrew text is unclear and that any translation offers only one of several possibilities.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• You welcome those who joyously do what is right,
who remember you by following your ways.
Look, you were angry with us, but we kept on sinning;
if we always follow your ways, we will be saved.

• You welcome anyone who rejoices to do what is right,
who recalls your ways and follows them.
See, you were angry with us, but we continued to sin;
if we follow your ways, you will save us.

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 .