In that day: See the comments above on verse 18.

The Lord will shave … the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also: These are the main clauses in the verse. Shaving facial and body hair could be done voluntarily at times of mourning (Job 1.20) or as part of a cleansing ritual by those considered unclean due to leprosy or some other skin problem (Lev 14.8-9). But shaving could also be done to humiliate and punish people, especially captives (see Deut 21.11-12; Jer 47.5; Ezek 7.18). It was customary for an enemy to shave the body hair of captives. Here the razor will not only shave the hair on the head and the body, it will shave the beard also. The Lord will completely humiliate the people of Judah by having the Assyrian army capture them and shave them completely.

The hair of the feet is a euphemism since feet refers to the genital area here (see the comments on 6.2). So feet should not be taken literally. In translation we may need to say “body” (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant), or use a suitable euphemism for genital area.

With a razor which is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria: The razor is a figure for the king of Assyria, the agent who does the “shaving.” The Hebrew verb rendered hired is often used in the context of hiring soldiers. Here Yahweh “hires” the Assyrian king for a special task. If the passive phrase is hired causes problems in the receptor language, we may say “he [the Lord] hires.” The phrase beyond the River refers to the other side of the river when viewed from Judah. The river is the Euphrates, so this geographical reference is to Assyria. This is made explicit with the mention of the king of Assyria.

Translators have to translate the text as it is, but they have the option of explaining the figure of “shaving with a razor” in a footnote. Good News Translation keeps the image by saying “the Lord will hire a barber … and he will shave…,” but alternatively a simile may be used (see the examples below); for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch renders this verse as “When that time has come, the Lord will hire the king of Assyria, from beyond the Euphrates he drags him this way. He will use him as a razor, to shave off the hair on your head, as well as your body hair and your beard.” Some languages will prefer to use “sharp knife” or a similar object in place of razor.

The following translation models for this verse may require a footnote for the image of “shaving” in some languages:

• At that time the Lord will use the king of Assyria from beyond the Euphrates River. That king will capture and humiliate you. He will be like a razor and he will shave all the hair from your head and body.

• On that day the Lord will use the Assyrian king from the other side of the Euphrates River. That king will be like a razor and he will humiliate you as his captives by shaving all the hair on your head and body.

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 .