Isaiah 12: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This short chapter is a song of thanks to be sung "in that day." The first part thanks God because his anger has turned away and he has become the singer's rescue. The second part calls for praise out loud, for telling other nations what he has done, and for shouting, because the Holy One of Israel is among them in Zion.

Claim by Claim

1. 12:1
   • In that day you will say something.
   • The speaker says he will praise the LORD.
   • The speaker says the LORD was angry with him.
   • The speaker says the LORD's anger is turned away.
   • The speaker says the LORD comforted him.
   • The Hebrew verbs for the anger turning away and the comforting can be read either as accomplished or as still to come.
2. 12:2
   • God is the speaker's salvation.
   • The speaker will trust.
   • The speaker will not be afraid.
   • The LORD is the speaker's strength.
   • The LORD is the speaker's song, the word also carrying the sense of might.
   • The LORD has become salvation for the speaker.
3. 12:3
   • You (plural) will draw water with joy.
   • The water is drawn from the springs of salvation.
4. 12:4
   • In that day you (plural) will say something.
   • Give thanks to the LORD.
   • Call on his name.
   • Make his deeds known among the peoples.
   • Declare that his name is exalted.
5. 12:5
   • Sing to the LORD.
   • He has done a majestic thing.
   • It is unclear whether the verse states that this is known in all the earth or commands that it be made known in all the earth.
6. 12:6
   • Cry out, you who dwell in Zion.
   • Sing for joy, you who dwell in Zion.
   • The Holy One of Israel is great.
   • The Holy One of Israel is in your midst.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

12:1

"That day" points back to the promise in the chapters just before this one: a time when God gathers his scattered people and rescues them. This short song is placed at the end of that section as the words the rescued people will sing.

12:2

Where the King James prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has God's personal name, the four letters usually written YHWH, which Jewish readers avoided saying aloud. "The LORD JEHOVAH" here translates a doubled form, a short version of the name followed by the full one. "Salvation" in Hebrew (yeshuah) means rescue from real danger (enemies, exile, death), not only an inward or after-death rescue. The line "my strength and my song, he also is become my salvation" repeats, almost word for word, the song Israel sang after escaping Egypt through the sea (Exodus 15:2).

12:3

In a dry country a spring or well was the difference between life and death, and drawing water was hard daily labor, usually done by lowering a jar on a rope. The picture is of that daily necessity suddenly being a source of pleasure rather than work.

12:4

"Call upon his name" is an idiom for publicly appealing to God, the way you would summon someone by shouting their name: it means invoking him, not just talking about him. A person's "name" in Hebrew stands for their whole reputation and standing, so "his name is exalted" means his standing is raised high. Where the King James has "among the people," the Hebrew noun is plural: among the peoples, meaning the foreign nations.

12:5

In 1611 "excellent" meant towering or majestic, much stronger than the modern sense of "very good." The Hebrew word describes something imposing enough to overawe the onlooker.

12:6

Zion was originally the fortified hill in Jerusalem and came to stand for the whole city and the people living in it. The Hebrew addresses that population as a single woman, the city spoken of as a female figure, a standard convention. "The Holy One of Israel" is Isaiah's favorite title for God; "holy" here carries the sense of set apart and utterly other, not primarily "well behaved." The verb translated "cry out" is the loud ritual shout used at festivals and victories.