Verses 4-5a look back at God’s uniqueness. The people describe God in a series of statements that serve as an introduction to the way they portray themselves as sinners before him in verses 5b-7. In this verse they use several negated statements to say that has nobody has ever heard or seen any other god do the awesome things Yahweh has done for his people.
From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee: These three lines acknowledge the uniqueness of Yahweh, Israel’s God. The following lines list his attributes. From of old indicates that the people continue to reflect on the past. This phrase is an important feature of this lament (see 63.9, 11, 16). No one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen is literally “they have not heard, they have not given ear to, no eye has seen.” Good News Translation says simply “No one has … seen or heard.” The object of these three verbs is the phrase a God besides thee (Good News Translation “a God like you”). Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Bible en français courant render God as “god.” We recommended the use of lowercase “god” in 44.8 and 45.5 (see the comments there), but here there is a risk that the divine description that follows will be seen as applying to that “god” rather than to Yahweh. Revised English Bible and Bible en français courant seem ambiguous on that point. If translators choose lowercase “god,” New Jerusalem Bible provides a helpful model for this verse with “Never has anyone heard … any god but you act like this for the sake of those who trust him.”
Who works for those who wait for him begins the description of Israel’s God. The verb works seems to refer back to Yahweh’s awesome deeds in verse 3. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “does great things,” and Contemporary English Version has “works miracles.” The Hebrew verb rendered wait for means “to depend on” in this context (see the comments on 30.18). Good News Translation has “put … hope in,” and Bible en français courant says “count on.” The sense of this whole line is that Yahweh does whatever he wills for every person who depends on or hopes in him, and that his action will always be helpful. New International Version translates “who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.”
Translation examples for this verse are:
• From ancient times nobody has heard,
nobody has listened to or seen a God unique like you,
one who works for the benefit of those who hope in him.
• From distant times no one has heard or seen any god like you,
one who does what is best for any who hope in him.
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 .