As in verse 4, special names are given to Jerusalem/Judah and its people. Modern versions differ in the way they mark the names here. Good News Translation sets them off very clearly by using capital letters and double quote marks.
And they shall be called The holy people promises that Judah’s people will be special, set apart from all others to serve God in a unique way. In Hebrew the closest referent for the pronoun they is the people the LORD is bringing back with him from exile (see verse 11). However, it refers to all the people of Judah, both present residents and recent arrivals. Bible en français courant (1997) expresses this by rendering the line as “People will call you [plural], you and them, ‘the people consecrated to God.’” Good News Translation changes the pronoun they to “You” for consistency since the prophet is addressing the people. For holy people, see the comments on 4.3.
The redeemed of the LORD will be a second name for the people. This name means they are the people whom Yahweh has rescued and brought back. For The redeemed, see the comments on 35.9.
And you shall be called Sought out: The Hebrew pronoun for you is feminine singular. It refers to the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants as well. Sought out is the third name for them in this verse. New International Version and Revised English Bible have “Sought After,” and Bible en français courant says “the Desired one.” There have been earlier promises that the nations of the world will seek to come to Jerusalem (see, for example, 2.2-3), so this new name assures the people that this will happen. But not all versions see those “who seek after” Jerusalem to be foreigners. For some this name is parallel to the following name, a city not forsaken, so the LORD is the one who desires Jerusalem. Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch express this sense with “The City That God Loves.”
A city not forsaken (“City-not-forsaken” in New Jerusalem Bible) is the fourth name given. This name confirms the reversal of the situation when the people were in exile (see verse 4). Good News Translation makes it clear that it is God who will not abandon Jerusalem again, and so does Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “the town that he [the LORD] has accepted/befriended once again.”
Bible en français courant reverses the last two names to place the focus on the positive-sounding name: “And you, Jerusalem, they will no longer call you ‘the abandoned city’ but rather ‘the Desired one.’”
Most of the names in this verse are in passive form, but Good News Translation changes them to active forms by making it explicit that God is the agent. See also the second example, which even renders the passive verb shall be called in an active form.
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• You will be called “The holy people,”
“Those whom Yahweh has brought back,”
and you will also be called “Sought after,”
“A city not abandoned.”
• People will refer to you as “The Holy People,”
“Those whom Yahweh has brought back.”
People will also call you “A place to seek out,”
“A city that God did not abandon.”
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 .