Isaiah 54
New English Translation
Zion Will Be Secure
54 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!
Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate one are more numerous
than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
2 Make your tent larger,
stretch your tent curtains farther out![a]
Spare no effort,
lengthen your ropes,
and pound your stakes deep.[b]
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your children will conquer[c] nations
and will resettle desolate cities.
4 Don’t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame.
Don’t be intimidated,[d] for you will not be humiliated.
You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth;
you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment.[e]
5 For your husband is the one who made you—
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name.
He is your Protector,[f] the Holy One of Israel.[g]
He is called “God of the entire earth.”
6 “Indeed, the Lord will call you back
like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression,[h]
like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.
7 “For a short time I abandoned[i] you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
8 In a burst[j] of anger I rejected you[k] momentarily,
but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,”
says your Protector,[l] the Lord.
9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time,[m]
when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood[n] would never again cover the earth.
In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.
10 Even if the mountains are removed
and the hills displaced,
my devotion will not be removed from you,
nor will my covenant of friendship[o] be displaced,”
says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you.
11 “O afflicted one, driven away,[p] and unconsoled!
Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony,
and lay your foundation with lapis lazuli.
12 I will make your pinnacles out of gems,[q]
your gates out of beryl,[r]
and your outer wall[s] out of beautiful[t] stones.
13 All your children will be followers of the Lord,
and your children will enjoy great prosperity.[u]
14 You will be reestablished when I vindicate you.[v]
You will not experience oppression;[w]
indeed, you will not be afraid.
You will not be terrified,[x]
for nothing frightening[y] will come near you.
15 If anyone dares to[z] challenge you, it will not be my doing!
Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated.[aa]
16 Look, I create the craftsman,
who fans the coals into a fire
and forges a weapon.[ab]
I create the destroyer so he might devastate.
17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;
you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you.[ac]
This is what the Lord will do for his servants—
I will vindicate them,”[ad]
says the Lord.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 54:2 tn Heb “the curtains of your dwelling places let them stretch out.”
- Isaiah 54:2 tn Heb “your stakes strengthen.”
- Isaiah 54:3 tn Or “take possession of”; NAB “shall dispossess.”
- Isaiah 54:4 tn Or “embarrassed”; NASB “humiliated…disgraced.”
- Isaiah 54:4 tn Another option is to translate, “the disgrace of our widowhood” (so NRSV). However, the following context (vv. 6-7) refers to Zion’s husband, the Lord, abandoning her, not dying. This suggests that an אַלְמָנָה (ʾalmanah) was a woman who had lost her husband, whether by death or abandonment.
- Isaiah 54:5 tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
- Isaiah 54:5 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
- Isaiah 54:6 tn Heb “like a woman abandoned and grieved in spirit.”
- Isaiah 54:7 tn Or “forsook” (NASB).
- Isaiah 54:8 tn According to BDB 1009 s.v. שֶׁטֶף the noun שֶׁצֶף here is an alternate form of שֶׁטֶף (shetef, “flood”). Some relate the word to an alleged Akkadian cognate meaning “strength.”
- Isaiah 54:8 tn Heb “I hid my face from you.”
- Isaiah 54:8 tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.
- Isaiah 54:9 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כִּימֵי (kime, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and all the ancient versions except LXX.
- Isaiah 54:9 tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 54:10 tn Heb “peace” (so many English versions); NLT “of blessing.”
- Isaiah 54:11 tn Or, more literally, “windblown, storm-tossed.”
- Isaiah 54:12 tn Perhaps, “rubies” (so ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
- Isaiah 54:12 tn On the meaning of אֶקְדָּח (ʾeqdakh), which occurs only here, see HALOT 82 s.v.
- Isaiah 54:12 tn Heb “border” (so ASV); NASB “your entire wall.”
- Isaiah 54:12 tn Heb “delightful”; KJV “pleasant.”
- Isaiah 54:13 tn Heb “and great [will be] the peace of your sons.”
- Isaiah 54:14 tn Heb “in righteousness [or “vindication”] you will be established.” The precise meaning of צְדָקָה (tsedaqah) here is uncertain. It could mean “righteousness, justice,” indicating that the city will be a center for justice. But the context focuses on deliverance, suggesting that the term means “deliverance, vindication” here.
- Isaiah 54:14 tn Heb “Be far from oppression!” The imperative is used here in a rhetorical manner to express certainty and assurance. See GKC 324 §110.c.
- Isaiah 54:14 tn Heb “from terror.” The rhetorical command, “be far” is understood by ellipsis here. Note the preceding context.
- Isaiah 54:14 tn Heb “it,” i.e., the “terror” just mentioned.
- Isaiah 54:15 tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb here for emphasis.
- Isaiah 54:15 tn Heb “will fall over you.” The expression נָפַל עַל (nafal ʿal) can mean “attack,” but here it means “fall over to,” i.e., “surrender to.”
- Isaiah 54:16 tn Heb “who brings out an implement for his work.”
- Isaiah 54:17 tn Heb “and every tongue that rises up for judgment with you will prove to be guilty.”
- Isaiah 54:17 tn Heb “this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication from me.”
Isaiah 54
1599 Geneva Bible
54 1 More of the Gentiles shall believe the Gospel than of the Jews. 7 God leaveth his for a time, to whom afterward he showeth mercy.
1 Rejoice, O [a]barren that didst not bear: break forth into joy and rejoice, thou that didst not travail with child; for the [b]desolate hath more children than the married wife, saith the Lord.
2 [c]Enlarge the place of thy tents, and let them spread out the curtains of thine habitations: spare not: stretch out thy cords, and make fast thy stakes.
3 For thou shalt increase on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall possess the Gentiles, and dwell in the desolate cities.
4 Fear not: for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither shalt thou be confounded: for thou shalt not be put to shame: yea, thou shalt forget the shame of thy [d]youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy [e]widowhood anymore.
5 For he that [f]made thee, is thine husband, (whose name is the Lord of hosts) and thy redeemer the holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of the whole [g]world.
6 For the Lord hath called thee, being as a woman forsaken, and afflicted in spirit, and as a [h]young wife when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
7 For a little while have I forsaken thee, but with great compassion will I gather thee.
8 For a moment in mine anger, I hid my face from thee for a little season, but with everlasting mercy have I had compassion on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer.
9 For this is unto me as the [i]waters of Noah; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with thee, nor rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains shall remove, and the hills shall fall down; but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace fall away, saith the Lord, that hath compassion on thee.
11 O thou afflicted and tossed with tempest, that hast no comfort, behold, I will lay thy stones with the [j]carbuncle, and lay thy foundation with sapphires,
12 And I will make thy windows of [k]emeralds, and thy gates shining stones, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
13 And all thy children shall be [l]taught of the Lord, and much peace shall be to thy children.
14 In [m]righteousness shalt thou be established, and be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear it: and from fear; for it shall not come near thee.
15 Behold, the enemies shall gather himself, but without [n]me: whosoever shall gather himself in thee, [o]against thee, shall fall.
16 Behold, I have created the [p]smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and him that bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the destroyer to destroy.
17 But all the weapons that are made against thee, shall not prosper: and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 54:1 After that he hath declared the death of Christ, he speaketh to the Church, because it should feel the fruit of the same, and calleth her barren, because that in the captivity she was a widow without hope to have any children.
- Isaiah 54:1 The Church in this her affliction and captivity shall bring forth more children, than when she was at liberty: or this may be spoken by admiration, considering the great number that should come of her. Her deliverance under Cyrus was as her childhood, and therefore this was accomplished, when she came to her age, which was under the Gospel.
- Isaiah 54:2 Signifying, that for the great number of children that God should give her, she should seem to lack room to lodge them.
- Isaiah 54:4 The afflictions which thou suffered at the beginning.
- Isaiah 54:4 When as thou wast refused for thy sins, Isa. 50:1.
- Isaiah 54:5 That did regenerate thee by his holy Spirit.
- Isaiah 54:5 His glory shall shine through the whole World, which seemed before to be shut up in Judea.
- Isaiah 54:6 As a wife which wast forsaken in thy youth.
- Isaiah 54:9 As sure as the promise that I made to Noah, that the waters should no more overflow the earth.
- Isaiah 54:11 Hereby he declareth the excellent estate of the Church under Christ.
- Isaiah 54:12 Or, jasper, or pearl.
- Isaiah 54:13 By the hearing of his word and inward moving of his Spirit.
- Isaiah 54:14 In stability and sureness, so that it shall stand forever.
- Isaiah 54:15 And therefore shall not prevail.
- Isaiah 54:15 Meaning, the domestical enemies of the Church, as are the hypocrites.
- Isaiah 54:16 Signifying hereby, that man can do nothing, but so far as God giveth power: for seeing that all are his creatures, he must needs govern and guide them.
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