Both Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch identify verses 5-15 explicitly as words of the LORD. Good News Translation begins this verse with “The LORD says to Babylon,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch with “Listen to what I, the LORD, tell you.” Both set off the speech with double quote marks.
Sit in silence, and go into darkness: Through these two commands God is announcing the fate that will overtake Babylonia. Sit in silence calls on Babylonia once again to sit, but without specifying a place. That place should be assumed to be the same as “the dust” of verse 1. In languages where the grammar demands that a location is mentioned with the verb “sit,” translators may repeat “in the dust” or “on the ground” from verse 1. However, here the focus is on sitting there and being punished in silence—Babylonia should not say anything.
Go into darkness is a figurative expression for going into captivity. The verb go suggests a departure away from home. Darkness is a metaphor for exile, as in 42.7 and 49.9. Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, and several other translations treat darkness as literal darkness rather than as a metaphor and thereby miss the point of the idiom. Darkness may be rendered “the darkness of exile” to indicate that this is a metaphor. Revised English Bible reverses the order of the two clauses in the first line for a natural and logical sequence of the two actions: “go into the darkness and sit in silence.”
For O daughter of the Chaldeans, see Isa 47.1. Good News Translation says simply “Babylon.”
For you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms gives the reason why Babylonia should go into exile and be silent. It is because she will lose the title mistress of kingdoms. She will no longer be a world power. The phrase you shall no more be called occurred earlier in verse 1. The noun mistress could be misunderstood because of the connotations the word carries today. The Hebrew term here is used of a woman in high office, a lady or queen (so Good News Translation), someone with power over others (see 24.2). The title mistress of kingdoms is a figurative expression for Babylonia’s rule over smaller nations. New International Version and Revised English Bible have “queen of [many] kingdoms,” and Bible en français courant says “Mistress of empires.” In languages where “queen” is rendered “wife of the king,” another term may need to be chosen. It is even possible to use a general expression, such as “ruler” or “chief,” as long as it can apply to women.
For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:
• “Sit in silence, go into darkness, *
you Chaldeans [or, Babylonians];
for you will no longer be known as the queen of the nations.
* “Go into darkness” is a figurative expression for going into exile.
• “Sit there in silence, go into the darkness of exile,
daughter of the Chaldeans;
no longer will people call you “Queen of the nations.”
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 .