The king’s boast continues. This time he compares what he does to raiding a bird’s nest for its eggs with the result that no young are born. It is another figure for destruction.

My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples: My hand refers to the whole person, so Good News Translation simply uses the pronoun “I.” The wealth of the peoples refers back to “their treasures” in verse 13. The Hebrew word translated wealth can mean strength and power as well as riches. The latter sense seems appropriate here and all versions consulted translate it that way. The phrase like a nest is difficult to link directly with the immediate context. The object of the verb found is wealth, but the brief Hebrew expression for like a nest is unclear. Most translations take the view that the nations are like a bird’s nest from which the eggs are gathered. New International Version says “As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations.” Just as someone might discover eggs in a bird’s nest, so the king found the nations’ treasures. We suggest “I discovered the wealth of the nations just as one discovers a bird’s nest.” New Jerusalem Bible is close to this with “My hand has found, as though a bird’s nest, the riches of the peoples.” Another possible rendering is “I discovered the nations’ wealth; it was like finding a [full] nest.”

And as men gather eggs that have been forsaken so I have gathered all the earth: The first part reads literally “and like a gathering of eggs left alone.” Men is not in the Hebrew text, so males are not specifically in view. It is better to say “people” or “someone.” Good News Translation does not name explicitly those who gather the eggs. Eggs that have been forsaken describe eggs lying in the nest while the parent birds have left, either temporarily or because they have been driven away. People can collect abandoned eggs easily, and with the same ease the Assyrian king “collected” nations. Translators may make explicit that the point of the comparison is the ease with which both “collections” are done. Good News Translation does this by saying “as easily as gathering eggs.”

The Assyrian king claims that he gathered all the earth. Even if this reference is limited to the inhabited world as it was known at that time, the claim is still an exaggeration. This should be reflected in translation since it highlights his great pride.

And there was none that moved a wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped: The ease with which the Assyrian emperor captured nations is described further here. There was no opposition or any attempt at protest. The king continues to use the figure of the birds, claiming that the nations resembled parent birds that did not object to their eggs being stolen. They were unable or unwilling to move or call out in protest. The phrase none that moved a wing describes a bird failing to come and attack the invaders or even to fly away. Thus the nations were unable to stir or complain against Assyria.

There is alliteration in the closing line or opened the mouth, or chirped. In Hebrew it is wupotseh peh wumetsaptsep. The alliteration may be difficult to imitate in translation. The phrase opened the mouth does not focus on the action of a bird opening its beak; rather, it refers to the failure to produce any chirping sound. The whole line means the bird opens its beak to call but no sound is heard. We may say “from its open mouth no sound is heard.”

For translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Discovering the wealth of the nations was like finding a bird’s nest. I gathered the whole world just as one gathers eggs left behind [in the nest]. No bird flapped its wing; they just stood open-mouthed and silent.

• I discovered the nations’ wealth; it was like finding a bird’s nest. Just as one collects eggs abandoned in the nest, so simple was it to gather the whole world. No bird flew away, no sound came from their open mouths.

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 .