The LORD enters into judgment is literally “Yahweh comes with judgment.” This line restates the meaning of the previous verse. It may be rendered “Yahweh takes to court.”

With the elders and princes of his people: The preposition with may cause some confusion if it is translated literally. Yahweh is not going to court together with the elders and princes, but he is coming to accuse and judge them. The preposition with here carries the sense of “against.” This is made clear in Good News Translation. For the terms elders and princes, see the comments on verses 2 and 4. In the previous verse Contemporary English Version says the LORD will judge “all nations,” but for the first two lines of this verse it has “He will even judge you rulers and leaders of his own nation.”

Yahweh uses direct speech to make his accusation against the leaders of his people. In some languages translators will not be able to use this form of speech, so they will need to put the following words into indirect speech; for example, the last two lines of this verse may begin with “He says that they have devoured the vineyard….” However, in most languages a direct quote will have the heightened impact it has in the Hebrew, but some translators may find it natural to introduce the speech with a brief clause, as Good News Translation does with “He makes this accusation.”

It is you who have devoured the vineyard: You (plural) renders an independent Hebrew pronoun that occurs before the verb. By using this pronoun, Yahweh draws special attention to the fact that these leaders are the ones who are guilty. The Hebrew verb translated devoured may also mean “to burn” or “to consume [by burning].” These are the most frequent meanings given the verb. Here the verb refers to destruction that is most likely by fire. Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh say “ravaged,” which is a high-level word. Other options are “plundered” (Good News Translation), “ruined” (New International Version), and “destroyed” (Contemporary English Version).

For vineyard see the comments on 1.8. Whose vineyard is it and what does it signify? It seems the vineyard belongs to the poor since the next line is parallel to this one. But vineyard may have some symbolic significance here. In chapter 5 there is the well-known song about the vineyard. There it symbolizes the nation of Israel. Since vineyard may refer to a real vineyard here, it is best not to make a possible metaphor explicit by adding the word “Israel.” However, this deeper meaning may be given in a footnote, as Bible en français courant does: “As often in the Bible the vineyard is taken as a symbol of the people of God; see 5.7.” The vineyard refers to all vineyards since the definite article is used with a generic sense here. So it may be better to say “vineyards” (Good News Translation), so that one particular vineyard is not in view.

The spoil of the poor is in your houses: The Hebrew word for spoil carries the meaning of something taken from someone else either by robbery or in war. In this verse spoil refers to goods taken from the poor, those in the community who cannot defend themselves or whose cases never reach the courts (see the accusations in 1.23). The spoil of the poor may be translated “the things you have stolen from the poor.” In your houses indicates that the leaders of the people keep the confiscated goods of the poor for their own use.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Yahweh comes with a judgment against the elders and leaders of his people.
He accuses them: “You are the ones who have burned the vineyards;
you keep what you have robbed from the poor.

• Yahweh charges the elders and leaders,
accusing them of destroying the vineyard
and keeping what they stole from the poor.

• Yahweh comes to judge the elders and leaders of his people.
“You have destroyed the vineyard,
you have stolen from the poor and kept their goods.

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 .