A people who provoke me to my face continually: A people is literally “the people,” referring back to “a rebellious people” in the previous verse. Who provoke me to my face is an idiom that means they deliberately make God angry (compare Jer 7.18-19). They do this through their disobedience. Bible en français courant renders to my face as “openly.” For this phrase translators may use an ideophone or an adverb, such as “brazenly,” “blatantly,” or “boldly.” Continually has the same sense as “all the day” in the previous verse.

Verses 3b-5a detail the ways in which these rebels provoke God to anger.

Sacrificing in gardens: Since Yahweh disapproves of this activity, the gardens must refer to sacred places where the people participated in Canaanite fertility rites (see the comments on 1.29; see also 66.17). They were offering sacrifices to false gods in those places. As in 1.29|prj:GNTD.Isa 1.29, Good News Translation adds the adjective “sacred” to describe the gardens. This line may be rendered “making false sacrifices in gardens” or “making sacrifices to false gods in gardens.”

And burning incense upon bricks: The Hebrew verb rendered burning incense can also mean “to sacrifice” (see the comments on verse 7b). In this context it clearly refers to offering incense. Burning incense was always an element in Judah’s formal worship of Yahweh, so that act in itself is not the problem (see the comments on 1.13). However, in this context bricks probably refers to Canaanite altars made of bricks (compare “altars of incense” in 17.8). Israel’s laws forbade the construction of altars using “dressed” stones; Yahweh’s altars had to be built of natural stones (see Exo 20.25). New International Version has “altars of brick” (similarly Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant), and Good News Translation says “pagan altars.” For bricks see the comments on 9.10. In languages where bricks are unknown, translators may use “stones.” For this whole line Bible en français courant has “and on the brick altars they burn perfume [incense] for the false gods.”

Translation examples for this verse are:

• These people constantly and deliberately
set out to make me angry,
offering sacrifices to false gods in gardens,
and burning incense on brick altars.

• These people continually provoke me to anger,
offering sacrifices to other gods in gardens,
and burning incense on altars that are made of bricks.

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 .