The relationship between the two parts of the Israelite nation, Ephraim in the north and Judah in the south, was always a difficult one after they divided into separate kingdoms following the death of Solomon. That difficult relationship forms the background to this verse.

The verse can be divided into two; each half contains two parallel lines. There are repetitions of the names of the two kingdoms in the four lines and, in each half of the verse, there are the two ideas, “jealousy” and “harassment.” In each half there is a chiastic structure: “verb + construct phrase” (line 1) versus “construct phrase + verb” (line 2) in the first half; and “Ephraim + verb phrase + Judah” (line 3) versus “Judah + verb phrase + Ephraim” (line 4) in the second half. The following literal rendering shows the chiastic structures:

And it will end — the envy of Ephraim
and those who harass Judah — will be cut off;
Ephraim — will not envy — Judah
and Judah — will not harass — Ephraim.

The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart: The jealousy of Ephraim has two possible meanings. It could mean the jealousy that Ephraim feels toward some group or nation, or it could mean the jealousy that others feel toward Ephraim. Most versions imply, or even make it clear, that it has the first sense; for example, for this line New Century Version has “At that time Israel will not be jealous anymore.” This is probably correct since the second half of the verse identifies Judah as the one of whom Ephraim is jealous. Many languages will need to express this explicitly, as in the translation example below. The prophet does not say why Ephraim felt jealous of Judah. For Ephraim see the comments on 7.2. Ephraim’s feelings of envy will depart (literally “turn aside”), that is, disappear.

And those who harass Judah shall be cut off: Those who harass Judah is literally “the harassment of Judah,” so it has the same syntactic form as The jealousy of Ephraim. Revised Standard Version‘s interpretation of this phrase is found in many other translations, for example, New Jerusalem Bible “Judah’s enemies” and Revised English Bible “enmity towards Judah.” Other translations do not clarify the meaning of this genitive expression; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “Judah’s harassment,” which can mean either Judah’s harassment of others or the harassment of Judah by others. However, since lines 1 and 2 are parallel, we should interpret the syntax of both lines in the same way. So the meaning here is “Judah’s harassment of others.” This treats both halves of the verse as exact parallels. Shall be cut off refers to the ending or removal of Judah’s attacks.

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah states the same idea as line 1, using a different form.

And Judah shall not harass Ephraim expresses the same idea of line 2 in a form that is parallel to line 3.

This kind of repetition within parallel structures is common in Hebrew poetry and serves to emphasize the point being made. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version combine the first line with the third line and the second line with the fourth line. This implies the first half of the verse is parallel in meaning with the last half. However, since the parallelism is used here for emphasis, we do not recommend that translators follow the Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version models, unless there is a very good reason to do so. They may do it to avoid undue repetition and monotony.

For the translation of this verse we suggest:

• Ephraim’s jealousy of Judah will cease and Judah’s harassment of Ephraim will end.
Ephraim will no longer show envy of Judah, and Judah will no longer harass Ephraim.

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 .