This verse expands on one of the reasons for the people’s distress. It suggests that at that time premature death was a common problem for children as well as for adults. In the new creation all people will live long (compare Deut 5.33).

No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days: In God’s new world people will not die as infants. In a world where infant mortality was quite high, this was an important promise. It assured the future of the nation. In translation either the idea of dying early or that of not living long can be stressed here. Bible en français courant has “One will no longer find there an infant dying under age,” while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “There will be no more children who only live for a few days.” Good News Translation translates “Babies will no longer die in infancy.”

Or an old man who does not fill out his days looks at the other end of a human’s life. Living to a ripe old age was important to the ancient Israelites, for it was a sign of God’s blessing and implied that a person had been obedient to the divine law. An old man who does not fill out his days is an idiomatic expression that may be rendered “an old person who does not live out his days/life.” Good News Translation translates this line positively, saying “and all people will live out their life span.” Normally, 70 years was regarded as a standard life span (Psa 90.10), but the following lines mention 100 years! For languages that do not have a technical expression such as “life span,” Bible en français courant provides a possible model with “or adult persons deprived of their old age.”

For the child shall die a hundred years old: If this line is taken literally, it would imply a great contradiction since at a hundred years of age a person is no longer a child. The expression is idiomatic and contains a hyperbole. It means a person who lived to be a hundred would still be considered young (so Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). New Jerusalem Bible says “for the youngest will die at a hundred.”

And the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed: This line is difficult to explain since long life was a sign of God’s blessing. Why then would a sinner be given a life span of a hundred years, and why would he be accursed? New Revised Standard Version gives a different interpretation, one found in most modern versions: “and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.” The Hebrew participle rendered sinner is better translated “one who fails to achieve the mark” in this context. The Hebrew root for sinner actually means “to miss a mark” or “to not attain a standard that has been set.” Here it refers to someone who fails to reach the mark of a hundred years. Such a person will be accursed, that is, people will consider him condemned by God because he has died young. The context suggests that such a death will be an unusual one in the newly created world.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• No longer will babies die in infancy,
or old people fail to live out their full life span,
for those who live to be a hundred will be considered young,
and those who fail to reach that age will be considered cursed.

• No longer will children die in infancy,
nor will old people fail to live out their allotted life span,
for any who die at a hundred will be thought of as young yet,
and any who fail to live that long will be thought of as cursed.

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 .