This verse uses six infinitives in Hebrew to give the details of the people’s sins (rendered transgressing, denying, turning away, speaking, conceiving, and uttering).

Transgressing, and denying the LORD, and turning away from following our God: The Hebrew infinitive rendered transgressing is from the same root as the noun for “transgressions” in the previous verse, referring to rebellion against God. The Hebrew verb for denying refers to deceiving someone or acting falsely. It can be rendered “disavowing,” denying all knowledge of something. In this case the people deny any relationship with Yahweh, their God. Turning away from following our God speaks of an absolute rejection of God’s ways. Rather than following what God requires of them, they have deliberately gone in another direction. Each of the three actions in these two lines refers to their attitude toward God. Despite their rejection of him, they still refer to him as our God! Good News Translation provides a useful model here, especially in its use of pronouns. It refers to the people in the first person and to God in the second person. It also provides common-language equivalents for the sinful acts themselves. Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch do likewise.

The actions in the last two lines of this verse are usually understood to be those directed against other members of the community, although this is not entirely obvious when looking at the wording in the Hebrew.

Speaking oppression and revolt. The Hebrew noun for oppression refers to the act of abusing one’s power in order to take advantage of another person’s weakness (see the comments on 30.12). Combining this word with the verb speaking may well imply that this happened in the courts, as in verses 3-4. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders speaking as “Planning,” while New International Version uses “fomenting,” meaning inciting/causing. The meaning of the Hebrew noun for revolt in this context is not fully certain. However, verses 3-4 suggest that it refers to the denial of another’s legal rights, of lying in the courts when giving evidence or bringing a case against someone. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders it “treachery,” which is quite appropriate here.

Conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words is similar to the prophet’s charge against the people in verses 3-4. Conceiving renders the same Hebrew verb translated “conceive” in verse 4. As in English, this Hebrew verb in its literal sense refers to a woman becoming pregnant, but in a figurative sense it can refer to a thought being formed in a person’s mind. Since it is used figuratively here, it may be rendered “planning.” The people confess that they knowingly and deliberately lied against fellow members of the community. The verb uttering then refers to the act of speaking in public the lies that they created. The Hebrew phrase rendered conceiving and uttering has a special sound pattern: horo wehogo. This literary feature helps to draw attention to what is being said. The lying words are spoken from the heart, so there is nothing accidental about the lies. The Hebrew word for heart refers to one’s mind or intentions here (see the comments on 1.5). The people plan and carry out their lies to deceive and cause harm to others for their own benefit. For this whole line New Revised Standard Version uses the same words as Revised Standard Version but the language is clearer and flows better: “conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.” New International Version is more concise with “uttering lies our hearts have conceived,” which can be reframed as “speaking out lies that we have thought up in our hearts/minds.” Good News Translation is also concise with “Our thoughts are false; our words are lies.” Revised English Bible combines the last two lines, saying “we have conceived lies in our hearts and repeated them in slanderous and treacherous words.” All these are valid models depending on the kind of translation being done.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• We have gone against the LORD and disavowed him,
we have turned away from following our God.
We have planned oppression and treachery,
and have plotted and carried out the lies we devised.

• We have turned against the LORD and denied our allegiance to him,
we have rejected the ways of our God.
We have oppressed others and been treacherous,
we have spoken the lies that our minds planned.

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 .