Isaiah 60

Get up and shine, because your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen on you.

1Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

NoteThroughout this chapter the "you" is grammatically feminine and singular in Hebrew: the city of Jerusalem, spoken to as a woman. English "you" hides this. "Glory" translates a word whose root sense is weight or heaviness, used of a visible blaze of splendor surrounding God.

2Look: darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness covers the peoples. But the LORD will rise on you, and his glory will be seen over you.

2For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

3Nations will come to your light, and kings will come to the brightness of your sunrise.

3And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Note"Nations" (King James "Gentiles") renders the Hebrew *goyim*, the ordinary word for all the peoples other than Israel.

4Lift up your eyes and look all around you. They are all gathering and coming to you. Your sons are coming from far away, and your daughters are carried on the arm.

4Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

NoteSmall children were carried on the hip or along the forearm. The picture is of children too young to walk being carried home by others from distant countries.

5Then you will look and your face will shine. Your heart will pound and swell with joy, because the riches of the sea will be brought to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you.

5Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

6Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah. Everyone from Sheba will come, bringing gold and sweet-smelling incense, and announcing the praises of the LORD.

6The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.

NoteMidian and Ephah were tribes of the north-western Arabian desert, Ephah counted as a branch of Midian; Sheba was a rich kingdom in south-western Arabia (roughly modern Yemen) that controlled the incense trade. All three are named here as camel-caravan traders. The incense is frankincense, a fragrant tree resin burned in worship and one of the most valuable goods carried on those routes.

7All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you, and the rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will go up on my altar and be accepted there, and I will make my glorious house beautiful.

7All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.

NoteKedar and Nebaioth were nomadic Arab peoples of the desert east and south of Israel, listed in Genesis as sons of Ishmael and known for their vast flocks. Rams were prime animals for sacrifice, and "accepted" is the technical term for an offering that qualifies as fit to be presented. "My glorious house" is the temple in Jerusalem.

8Who are these, flying along like a cloud, like doves flying home to their nesting holes?

8Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?

NoteThe verse is a riddle, and the next verse supplies the answer: ships coming in under sail across the sea. Doves in this region nested in holes in cliff faces and in man-made dovecotes, and returned to them in flocks.

9Surely the islands and far shores are waiting for me, with the ships of Tarshish leading the way. They bring your children from far away, and their silver and gold with them, for the name of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, because he has given you honor.

9Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.

Note"Islands and far shores" translates a word covering both islands and coastlands, the distant Mediterranean shores that marked the edge of the known world from Jerusalem. "Ships of Tarshish" was a standing phrase for large ocean-going cargo vessels, named after a remote port, probably in the far western Mediterranean. "The Holy One of Israel" is the title for God most characteristic of the book of Isaiah.

10Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. I struck you when I was angry, but now I am kind to you and show you mercy.

10And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

NoteJerusalem's walls had been broken down when the Babylonians took the city. A city without walls was both defenseless and disgraced, so foreigners rebuilding them reverses the earlier destruction.

11So your gates will stand open all the time. They will never be shut, day or night, so that people can bring you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in as well.

11Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.

NoteCity gates were normally barred at nightfall and at any hint of danger. Gates standing open day and night meant a city with nothing left to fear, and here also a constant stream of goods and people coming in.

12Any nation or kingdom that will not serve you will die out. Those nations will be completely ruined.

12For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

13The finest trees of Lebanon will come to you, cypress and pine and boxwood together, to make my holy place beautiful. I will give glory to the place where my feet rest.

13The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

NoteThe mountain forests of Lebanon supplied the region's finest timber, the wood used for Solomon's temple and palace. The three tree names in the Hebrew are uncertain; they are evergreens of some kind, rendered variously as cypress, fir, pine, plane or box. "The place where my feet rest" pictures the temple as God's footstool, with God enthroned above it.

14The children of those who treated you badly will come and bow low to you. Everyone who looked down on you will bow all the way to the ground at your feet. They will call you The City of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

14The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

NoteZion was first the name of the fortified hill David captured, and came to stand for the temple mount and for Jerusalem as a whole. Bowing face down to the ground was the standard gesture of submission to a superior in this world.

15You were left alone and hated, and no one even traveled through you. Now I will make you something to be proud of forever, a joy for all the generations to come.

15Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

NoteJerusalem sat on major trade routes, so "no one even traveled through you" pictures a ruin that travelers went out of their way to avoid.

16You will drink the milk of the nations and nurse at the breasts of kings. Then you will know that I, the LORD, am the one who saves you and buys you back, the Mighty One of Jacob.

16Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

NoteThe nursing image continues verse 4's picture of Jerusalem as a mother, now fed herself by foreign nations and kings as a child is fed by a nurse. "The one who... buys you back" translates *go'el*, the relative whose legal duty it was to buy a family member out of debt-slavery or to buy back land the family had lost; applied to God, it keeps that picture of a kinsman paying to recover what is his. Jacob is the ancestor of the Israelites, whose sons gave the tribes their names.

17Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver. Instead of wood I will bring bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will put peace in charge of you, and right living will rule you.

17For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.

NoteEach pair moves up the scale of value: bronze, iron, wood and stone were the ordinary building materials, and each is replaced by something costlier. In the second half, peace and right living take the place of the human governors and tax-collectors a city would normally have.

18Violence will never again be heard of in your land, and there will be no ruin or destruction inside your borders. You will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.

18Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.

NoteCities really did name their walls and gates, Jerusalem had a Sheep Gate, a Fish Gate and others. "Salvation" here means rescue and safety, the everyday sense of the Hebrew word.

19The sun will no longer be your light by day, and the moon will no longer shine its brightness on you. The LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

19The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

20Your sun will never set again, and your moon will never fade. The LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of grief will be over.

20Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

Note"Your moon will never fade" refers to the moon's waning, its monthly shrinking away to nothing.

21All of your people will be right and good. They will hold the land as their own forever. They are the young shoot I planted, the work of my own hands, so that I will be honored.

21Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

Note"Hold the land as their own forever" uses the vocabulary of Israel's tribal land allotments: property passed down within a family and never permanently lost. The "young shoot" pictures the people as a plant God himself put in the ground.

22The smallest one among you will become a thousand, and the least of you will become a strong nation. I am the LORD; when the time comes, I will make it happen quickly.

22A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

Note"A thousand" was also the name of a clan-sized unit in Israel's tribal organization, so the line steps up from a single person to a clan to a full nation.