You are wearied with your many counsels: Your many counsels refers to the many pieces of advice coming from Babylonia’s magicians and others. Such advice can only make Babylonia exhausted because in the end it is useless, unable to prevent disaster from happening. For this whole line Good News Translation has “You are powerless in spite of the advice you get” (similarly Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This is slightly different from the majority view that holds that it is the large amount of advice itself that actually exhausts Babylonia; for example, New International Version translates “All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!” Instead of counsels, New Revised Standard Version and New Jerusalem Bible use “consultations,” a clear reference to the astrologers’ practice of consulting the skies in order to predict the future. Bible en français courant puts it plainly by rendering the line as “You wear yourself out in consulting the astrologers.”

Let them stand forth and save you: The pronoun them points forward to the astrologers mentioned in the last four lines of this verse. Both Good News Translation and New International Version makes this clear by saying “your astrologers.” Stand forth is literally “stand up,” but here it refers to the beginning of the action save rather than the physical act of standing up. Good News Translation and New International Version render it “come forward.” In Hebrew the particle of entreaty (literally “please”) follows the verb for stand forth. It softens the command, making it more like an invitation (see the comments on verse 12). New Jerusalem Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh render it “now,” but not in a temporal sense, while Bible en français courant uses “Well.” The verb save is used frequently throughout chapters 40–48. Each time it refers to people being rescued from some specific crisis. Here God calls on Babylonia to give its astrologers a chance to do something and rescue the nation. It is, of course, a mocking call since none of them can save Babylonia. For this whole line Bible en français courant has “Well, let them present themselves and let them come and save you.” In some languages it may be preferable to place this line at the end of the list of people who offer advice, as Revised English Bible does (see also the second example below).

Those who …: The rest of the verse explains who is referred to by the pronoun them. They are Babylonia’s astrologers, whom God describes by means of three items they consulted when practicing their profession: the heavens, the stars, and the new moons. Many versions refer to “astrologers” when rendering the expressions found in these lines. Not all languages have a word with that specific meaning, and sometimes a descriptive phrase such as “those who study/interpret the stars/heavens” will serve well. Other languages may be able to use their term for “sorcerers” or “magicians.”

Those who divide the heavens: This first description of the astrologers presents a slight problem since the Hebrew word rendered divide occurs only here in the Old Testament, so its meaning is difficult to determine with certainty. Divide the heavens may mean that the astrologers assign names to the various constellations seen in the night sky. The Septuagint renders this line simply as “astrologers” (also New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant [1997]), while New Revised Standard Version suggests “those who study the heavens.” Good News Translation has “who map out the zones of the heavens,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “The scanners of heaven.” But the expressions in Good News Translation and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh may appear unduly technical. Translators are recommended to choose an expression that refers to people who study the stars in order to predict the future based on what they observe. They are not making scientific observations. However, such a distinction may not always be easy to make in some languages, so a general expression such as “those who study the stars” will suffice. Of course, this expression will need to be rendered in conjunction with the next line to avoid awkward repetition.

Who gaze at the stars is synonymous with the previous line. As with the previous line, it does not refer to people who spend time simply looking at the stars and planets, but to those who actually believe they can predict the future by interpreting the position and movement of these heavenly bodies. In Babylonia there was the belief that the stars controlled a person’s and even a nation’s destiny, just as there are many people today who have similar beliefs. The Hebrew verb rendered gaze does not directly imply this idea, but it does hint at prolonged, intensive observation. Bible en français courant has “who observe the stars,” while several other versions use simply “stargazers/star-gazers” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Contemporary English Version combines this line and the previous one, saying “those who study the stars.”

Who at the new moons predict what shall befall you. Each month the astrologers use the location of the stars to determine what they believe will happen. At the new moons probably does not give the exact time when the astrologers do their work, but means “month by month” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Good News Translation says “from month to month.” New Revised Standard Version stays with “at each new moon.” Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in their footnotes indicate that the Hebrew text of Masoretic Text has “from what” instead of simply what. The reading in Masoretic Text is probably due to a scribal error, so most versions ignore it. The Hebrew phrase translated befall you is the same one rendered “come/fall to/upon/on you” in verses 9 and 11. Here it may be rendered “happen to you.”

Translation examples for this verse are:

• You are exhausted by the multitude of advice given to you.
Let the astrologers come forward and rescue you!
They are the ones who scan/study/search the heavens,
who seek the future in the stars,
who predict each month what will happen to you.

• Because of the vast amount of advice you receive, you are exhausted!
Let those who scan the heavens,
who seek the future in the stars,
who predict month by month what will come upon you,
let those people rise up and rescue you!

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 .