Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make: The metaphor of the spider’s web continues here. It is obvious that the thin threads of spiders’ webs cannot be used for clothing, but what does this metaphor mean? The context makes it clear that just as spiders’ webs cannot cover a person, so evil people cannot hide under the cover of their vicious actions. Their actions will be exposed. The pronoun Their refers to the evil people described in verse 4, not to the spiders. Men will not cover themselves with what they make is literally “and they will not [be able to] cover themselves with their deeds.” The pronouns “they” and “their” refer to the same evil people, not to the spiders. “Their deeds” is a clear reference to their abuse of the justice system described in verse 4.

Bible en français courant places the second line of verse 5 just before the first two lines of this verse, rendering them as “The webs that you weave are spider’s webs; they are destined, not to clothe oneself, not to cover oneself, but to cause trouble.” Good News Translation is similar with “But your plots will do you no good—they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs!”

Their works are works of iniquity: Their works renders the same Hebrew expression as what they make in the previous line, referring back to the evil actions in verse 4. Revised Standard Version varies the expression for naturalness. As in verse 4, the Hebrew word for iniquity carries the sense of evil and deception.

And deeds of violence are in their hands is a figurative expression for the violent acts of the people. They use violence to assure their legal victories. For violence see the comments on 53.9. The Hebrew word for hands is the same one used in verse 3 (see the comments there). This line and the previous one appear to be missing from Good News Translation because it has abbreviated the wording so extensively.

For this whole verse Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Clothes and covers cannot be made with them [namely, the spiders’ webs], but living prey is caught in them and killed.” This rendering makes explicit the other implication of the metaphor of the spiders’ webs, namely, that just as spiders use webs to trap their prey, so the evil people trap other people in their wicked plans. Because Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s rendering is so free, we can only recommend it with some reservation as a model for translation. For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• As a spider’s web cannot be made into clothing,
so they cannot hide themselves from their deeds.
Their deeds are for evil/deception,
they resort to violence.

• Just as spiders’ webs cannot be made into clothes,
so those people cannot hide behind what they do.
Their actions are intended to deceive [or, to hurt others],
they depend on violence.

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 .