And he said: According to the Hebrew syntax of this passage, the pronoun he refers to Yahweh since he is the speaker at the beginning of the section. However, we noted there that the prophet Isaiah was probably the one who actually spoke Yahweh’s words. So Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and Bible en français courant render he as “Isaiah” and Revised English Bible has “the prophet.”
Hear then, O house of David!: The imperative Hear then is a strong call for attention. “Now listen!” renders it well. These words are spoken to the house of David, a phrase used in verse 2 (see the comments there). The pronoun you in this verse and the next one is second person plural, but whether the prophet is addressing the whole royal family of David or just King Ahaz alone is difficult to determine. In verse 2 we suggested that it referred to Ahaz, and there is no further evidence that Isaiah is speaking to more than the king here either. He is probably addressing the king as well as the other members of the royal family. In any case, only the king replies. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version believe that the entire royal family is being addressed. Good News Translation says “descendants of King David,” which seems to include even those descendants of King David who have died. Obviously, Isaiah is addressing those alive in his time. Bible en français courant may provide a solution with “you [singular] and your family, the descendants of David.” Translators may keep the slightly ambiguous but formal phrase house of David with either singular or plural second person pronouns, if they are sure their readers will understand it.
Is it too little for you to weary men…?: For other examples of the idiom Is it too little for you…? see Gen 30.15; Num 16.9; Ezek 16.20. In each case it is clear that there is a tone of rebuke. Although it is framed as a question, it is rhetorical, so the question mark may be replaced with an exclamation mark by saying “Don’t you care that…!” or “Do you think it is such a small matter to…!” Here the charge against the king is that he is a burden to his people; he is exasperating them, so they feel exhausted. Yet he doesn’t care about it. Weary has a broader meaning here than just physical tiredness. It means the king causes the people to grow tired of him and of what he does. Good News Translation renders weary as “wear out the patience of” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Men is a general term referring to people (the king’s subjects, the people of Judah). It may even refer to the prophet himself, so for this clause Contemporary English Version has “You have already tried my patience.”
That you weary my God also completes the rebuke. Ahaz has shown that he does not care about troubling his people, nor does he care about causing God to grow tired and impatient with him either. The reference to God growing tired with the king is a very human (anthropomorphic) way of speaking about God. The phrase my God provides a literary balance with the phrase “your God” in verse 11.
It may be necessary in some languages to put the climactic part of the rhetorical question first and the comparative part second; for example, “Do you not care about making God tired of you just as you care nothing for making the people tired of you!”
Some translation examples for this verse are:
• Then Isaiah said, “Now listen here, you king of the family of David! You think nothing of doing what makes your people tired of you. Are you going to make my God tired of you as well!
• Then Isaiah spoke to Ahaz, “You descendant of David! Does it not bother you that you are a burden to your people! Will you burden my God in the same way!
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 .