> [[isaiah-53|← Previous]] | [[isaiah-00|TOC]] | [[isaiah-55|Next →]] --- # Isaiah, Chapter 54 ## Chapter 54 ### The New Zion 1 Raise a glad cry, you barren one who never bore a child, ^isaiah-54-1 break forth in jubilant song, you who have never been in labor, For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says the LORD. 2 Enlarge the space for your tent, ^isaiah-54-2 spread out your tent cloths unsparingly; lengthen your ropes and make firm your pegs. 3 For you shall spread abroad to the right and left; ^isaiah-54-3 your descendants shall dispossess the nations and shall people the deserted cities. 4 Do not fear, you shall not be put to shame; ^isaiah-54-4 do not be discouraged, you shall not be disgraced. For the shame of your youth you shall forget, the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember. 5 For your husband is your Maker; ^isaiah-54-5 the LORD of hosts is his name, Your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth. 6 The LORD calls you back, ^isaiah-54-6 like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God. 7 For a brief moment I abandoned you, ^isaiah-54-7 but with great tenderness I will take you back. 8 In an outburst of wrath, for a moment ^isaiah-54-8 I hid my face from you; But with enduring love I take pity on you, says the LORD, your redeemer. 9 This is for me like the days of Noah: ^isaiah-54-9 As I swore then that the waters of Noah should never again flood the earth, So I have sworn now not to be angry with you, or to rebuke you. 10 Though the mountains fall away ^isaiah-54-10 and the hills be shaken, My love shall never fall away from you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you. 11 O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled, ^isaiah-54-11 I lay your pavements in carnelians, your foundations in sapphires; 12 I will make your battlements of rubies, ^isaiah-54-12 your gates of jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. 13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD; ^isaiah-54-13 great shall be the peace of your children. 14 In justice shall you be established, ^isaiah-54-14 far from oppression, you shall not fear, from destruction, it cannot come near. 15 If there be an attack, it is not my doing; ^isaiah-54-15 whoever attacks shall fall before you. 16 See, I have created the smith ^isaiah-54-16 who blows on the burning coals and forges weapons as his work; It is I also who have created the destroyer to work havoc. 17 Every weapon fashioned against you shall fail; ^isaiah-54-17 every tongue that brings you to trial you shall prove false. This is the lot of the servants of the LORD, their vindication from me—oracle of the LORD. \* (54:1) Jerusalem, pictured as a wife who had been barren and deserted, now suddenly finds herself with innumerable children (the returning exiles); cf. [Gal 4:27] for an application to a new context. \* (54:3) Those who had taken advantage of the exile to encroach on Jerusalem’s territory will be driven out, and the returning exiles will repopulate the cities of Judah. \* (54:4] – [8) As with some other Old Testament themes, Second Isaiah uses that of Israel as the Lord’s bride in a new manner. Whereas Hosea and Jeremiah had depicted Israel as the Lord’s spouse to emphasize both Israel’s infidelity and the Lord’s continued love ([Hos 1] – [3]; [Jer 2:2]; [3:1] – [15]) and Ezekiel to accuse Israel unsparingly ([Ez 16]; [23]), Second Isaiah speaks only of the love with which the Lord restores the people, speaking tender words with no hint of reproach. \* (54:5) Redeemer: cf. note on [41:14]. \* (54:10) Covenant of peace: this whole section, vv. [9] – [17], is given to various assurances of God’s love for Israel and of safety from various possible threats; the phrase sums up both the positive aspects of *shalom*, which implies a fullness of blessing, and protection from all that might harm. Cf. also [55:3]; [Nm 25:12]; [Ez 34:25]; [37:26]; [Mal 2:5]. \* (54:11) Afflicted one: Jerusalem. a. (54:1) [Gal 4:27]. b. (54:2) [Is 49:20]. c. (54:6) [Mal 2:14] – [15]. d. (54:9) [Gn 9:15]. e. (54:10) [Ps 46:3]; [76:5]. f. (54:11) [Rv 21:18] – [21]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[isaiah-53|← Previous]] | [[isaiah-00|TOC]] | [[isaiah-55|Next →]]