Isaiah 4

When that day comes, seven women will grab hold of one man and say, "We will supply our own food and our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our shame."

1And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

NoteTo be "called by your name" meant to be married to the man and take his household's standing. Under the customs of the time a husband owed his wife food and clothing; these women offer to give that up and support themselves, asking only for the status of a wife. The "shame" is the disgrace that attached to a woman who was unmarried and childless. The verse continues the scene at the end of chapter 3, where the city's men have been killed in war so that women far outnumber them, the chapter break here was added by later editors, not by the writer.

2When that day comes, the Branch that the LORD grows will be beautiful and full of glory. The crops the land produces will be the pride and honor of the Israelites who survive.

2In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

Note"Branch" translates a Hebrew word meaning a shoot or sprout that grows out of a plant. In other prophetic books it becomes a title for a coming king descended from David, and it is often read that way here. But set beside "the crops the land produces" in the same sentence, it can equally mean the fresh growth the land itself puts out after the devastation described earlier. The Hebrew supports both readings and does not settle between them.

3And this is what will happen: everyone who is still in Zion, everyone who is left in Jerusalem, will be called holy. This means all those in Jerusalem whose names are written down among the living.

3And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:

NoteZion was originally the fortified hill in Jerusalem; the name came to stand for the city as a whole and for its people. "Holy" here means set apart and belonging to God, not morally well-behaved. "Names written down among the living" pictures a civic register of citizens: to be on the list was to be counted as a living member of the city.

4This will happen after the Lord has washed away the filth of the women of Zion and has cleaned out the bloodstains from inside Jerusalem, by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.

4When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

Note"The women of Zion" picks up Isaiah 3:16–24, where the wealthy women of Jerusalem are described walking in finery. "Bloodstains" means guilt for violence and killing; in Israelite thought spilled blood marked the place where it was shed until it was dealt with. The word translated "spirit" is Hebrew *ruach*, which means wind, breath, or spirit, so "a spirit of burning" may equally be a scorching wind or a fiery breath.

5Then the LORD will create over the whole of Mount Zion, and over the crowds that gather there, a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. Over all of it, over the glory, there will be a covering.

5And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.

NoteThe cloud by day and fire by night recall the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that went ahead of the Israelites when they left Egypt (Exodus 13:21–22). "The crowds that gather" refers to the assemblies of people convened for religious festivals. The word behind "covering" is *chuppah*, a canopy, the same word used for the canopy a bride and groom stood under at a wedding.

6It will be a shelter that gives shade from the heat during the day, and a safe place to hide from storms and rain.

6And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

NoteThe word behind "shelter" is *sukkah*, a temporary hut made of branches: the kind of lean-to farmers threw up in the fields for shade at harvest, and the kind Israelites built and lived in during the autumn festival of booths.