This verse is a hymn-like interlude that stands between God’s words to Cyrus (verses 2-7) and Israel’s reaction to that news (verses 9-13). God is probably the speaker, but here he addresses his creation, not Cyrus. He tells it to produce righteousness and victory. Even though this verse is independent from the previous verses, it has links with them by using the phrase I the LORD and the verb created.

Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness: In these parallel lines God tells the sky to rain down righteousness. The Hebrew verbs rendered Shower and rain down refer to rain falling from the sky. Here they are used as metaphors for abundance. God tells the sky to produce abundant righteousness like rain falling down. Good News Translation changes them to a simile, saying “like rain,” which other languages may find helpful. The heavens and the skies are images for the people living on earth. With this imagery God is telling them to demonstrate righteousness. The Hebrew word for skies actually means “clouds” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant), which is a valid rendering. The idea of righteousness in the second line is implied in the first line. New International Version places it in the first line for clarity by rendering the first two lines as “You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down” (similarly Revised English Bible). Other languages may find this helpful. The Hebrew word rendered righteousness can also mean “victory,” which is the sense we prefer here (see the comments on 41.2). God is calling on the world to make known his rescue plan for the people of Israel. However, translators may follow Revised Standard Version with righteousness (see the comments on 1.21) or New Jerusalem Bible with “saving justice.”

Let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also: In these parallel lines God tells the earth to cause salvation and righteousness to sprout. The earth in combination with the heavens/skies in the first two lines refers to all of God’s creation. As noted above, they are images here for all the people living on earth. The Hebrew verbs rendered sprout forth and spring up refer to plants sprouting. Here they are metaphors for abundance. God tells everyone on earth to demonstrate abundant salvation and righteousness like plants that sprout. The Hebrew word rendered salvation has the sense of “rescue” or “deliverance” here (see the comments on 26.1), referring to God’s rescue of his people from exile in Babylonia. This is the first time this term occurs in chapters 40–55. The adverb also is literally “together,” meaning that the earth must produce both salvation and righteousness. New International Version expresses this idea clearly by rendering the third and fourth lines as “Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it.” Revised English Bible is similar with “let the earth open for it that salvation may flourish with righteousness growing beside it.” These may be useful models for other languages.

In the first four lines of this verse there is an example of all-inclusive parallelism. The sky and the earth are not assigned different tasks, but all of creation is to produce righteousness and salvation.

There is highly poetic language in these lines since God tells the sky and the earth to produce righteousness and salvation. This figurative speech may be difficult to convey in some languages. However, rendering it nonfiguratively would be nearly impossible. Translators may need to add a footnote to explain is underlying meaning.

I the LORD have created it: The referent of the pronoun it is not clear. If this pronoun refers to the sky and the earth, we would expect the plural pronoun “them.” It may refer to Cyrus, but it more likely points to the victory referred to in the previous lines. This is what Good News Translation has in view by rendering the whole line as “I, the LORD, will make this happen.”

Most versions use imperatives or jussives for the Hebrew verbs in the first four lines of this verse, and perfect tense for the last line. However, Good News Translation renders them with the future tense, referring to what the LORD will do. Good News Translation also combines the first two lines and makes the LORD the subject of them. Since he is speaking, and he is the Creator of the whole earth, the Hebrew verbs in this verse may be understood as describing his future actions. However, we prefer commands here closed by a final statement in which the LORD declares what he has done.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• “May the heavens send victory from above like rain,
may the sky pour it down.
May the earth open up [to receive it], so that salvation can sprout,
and may it also produce victory.
I, the LORD, have created all this.”

• “O heavens, rain down victory from above,
O sky, pour it down like rain.
O earth, open up and let salvation grow,
and produce victory with it.
I am the LORD, and I have created all this.”

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 .