This subsection closes with a picture of intertribal attacks, followed by the usual refrain in the final lines. For the refrain see the comments on verses 12 and 17. Its translation should be the same as in those verses.

Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they are against Judah: Here the poet gives an example of people devouring each other, the example of Manasseh and Ephraim, which were the two major tribes in the northern kingdom of Israel. Not only are they against one another, they are also against the southern kingdom of Judah. In the Hebrew this first half of the verse is unusual since it consists mainly of noun phrases; the verbs have to be supplied from the previous verse. Translators probably will have to provide verbs for a natural translation. For the first line we may say “[The tribe of] Ephraim devoured [the tribe of] Manasseh and Manasseh devoured Ephraim.” If this is thought to be illogical, another possible rendering is “Ephraim tried to devour Manasseh and Manasseh tried to devour Ephraim” or “Ephraim and Manasseh tried to devour each other.” Good News Translation supplies the verb “attack.”

Revised English Bible places this sentence between parentheses, and seems to suggest further that it is not part of the text by placing the verse number just before refrain. We recommend against following this example.

A translation example for this verse is:

• The people of Ephraim and the people of Manasseh devoured each other, and together they attacked Judah. Despite that, God is still angry and will continue to punish Israel.

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 .