The living, the living, he thanks thee: In contrast to the dead who cannot praise God, Hezekiah exclaims here that it is only the living who can praise him. Translators may begin with the connector “But” to mark the contrast between this verse and the previous one. The Hebrew word rendered The living is singular, but it has a collective sense. It refers to all those who are alive. It may be rendered as a plural, and so may the pronoun he (see Good News Translation). The repetition of the living at the beginning of the verse makes it emphatic. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch puts it in focus by beginning with “Only the living” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant), and Good News Translation does it with “It is the living who….” Thanks (Good News Translation “praise”) translates the same Hebrew verb as in the previous verse (see the comments there).

As I do this day: Hezekiah applies the general principle in the previous line to himself. Since he is alive, he can praise God now. He implies here an urgent request to remain among the living.

The father makes known to the children thy faithfulness: These two lines express a general truth. Parents tell their children how faithful God is. Hezekiah uses this truth to make another indirect appeal to God to spare his life. If he recovers, he will be able to teach his children about God’s faithfulness. The singular expression the father does not refer to a single person but to parents in general. Both parents, not just the father, were responsible to pass on traditions (see Pro 1.8), so both Good News Translation and Bible en français courant say “Parents.” Children is literally “sons,” but both sons and daughters are in view here, so Revised Standard Version‘s rendering is good. Thy faithfulness provides an obvious link with the previous verse, making the contrast between these two verses even stronger. The dead cannot hope for God’s faithfulness; only the living can teach their children about it!

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• But it is the living, only the living, who praise you,
just as I am doing today.
Parents teach their children about your faithfulness.

• The living, indeed only the living, are the ones who praise you,
just as I do today.
Parents teach their children how faithful you are.

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 .