Isaiah 62:4-12

62:4 You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,”

and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.”

Indeed, ¹  you will be called “My Delight is in Her,” ² 

and your land “Married.” ³ 

For the Lord will take delight in you,

and your land will be married to him. ⁴ 

62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,

so your sons ⁵  will marry you.

As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,

so your God will rejoice over you.

62:6 I ⁶  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;

they should keep praying all day and all night. ⁷ 

You who pray to ⁸  the Lord, don’t be silent!

62:7 Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, ⁹ 

until he makes Jerusalem the pride ¹⁰  of the earth.

62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,

by his strong arm: ¹¹ 

“I will never again give your grain

to your enemies as food,

and foreigners will not drink your wine,

which you worked hard to produce.

62:9 But those who harvest the grain ¹²  will eat it,

and will praise the Lord.

Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine ¹³ 

in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

62:10 Come through! Come through the gates!

Prepare the way for the people!

Build it! Build the roadway!

Remove the stones!

Lift a signal flag for the nations!

62:11 Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: ¹⁴ 

“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘Look, your deliverer comes!

Look, his reward is with him

and his reward goes before him!’” ¹⁵ 

62:12 They will be called, “The Holy People,

the Ones Protected ¹⁶  by the Lord.”

You will be called, “Sought After,

City Not Abandoned.”

[62:4]  ¹ tn Or “for”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “but.”

[62:4]  ² tn Hebrew חֶפְצִי־בָהּ (kheftsi-vah), traditionally transliterated “Hephzibah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ³ tn Hebrew בְּעוּלָה (bÿ’ulah), traditionally transliterated “Beulah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ⁴ tn That is, the land will be restored to the Lord’s favor and once again enjoy his blessing and protection. To indicate the land’s relationship to the Lord, the words “to him” have been supplied at the end of the clause.

[62:5]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has “your sons,” but this produces an odd metaphor and is somewhat incongruous with the parallelism. In the context (v. 4b, see also 54:5-7) the Lord is the one who “marries” Zion. Therefore several prefer to emend “your sons” to בֹּנָיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builder”; e.g., NRSV). In Ps 147:2 the Lord is called the “builder of Jerusalem.” However, this emendation is not the best option for at least four reasons. First, although the Lord is never called the “builder” of Jerusalem in Isaiah, the idea of Zion’s children possessing the land does occur (Isa 49:20; 54:3; cf. also 14:1; 60:21). Secondly, all the ancient versions support the MT reading. Thirdly, although the verb בָּעַל (ba’al) can mean “to marry,” its basic idea is “to possess.” Consequently, the verb stresses a relationship more than a state. All the ancient versions render this verb “to dwell in” or “to dwell with.” The point is not just that the land will be reinhabited, but that it will be in a relationship of “belonging” to the Israelites. Hence a relational verb like בָּעַל is used (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:581). Finally, “sons” is a well-known metaphor for “inhabitants” (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 208).

[62:6]  ⁶ sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.

[62:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.

[62:6]  ⁸ tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”

[62:7]  ⁹ tn “Jerusalem” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; note the following line.

[62:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[the object of] praise.”

[62:8]  ¹¹ tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.

[62:9]  ¹² tn Heb “it,” the grain mentioned in v. 8a.

[62:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “and those who gather it will drink it.” The masculine singular pronominal suffixes attached to “gather” and “drink” refer back to the masculine noun תִּירוֹשׁ (tirosh, “wine”) in v. 8b.

[62:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so NASB, NRSV).

[62:11]  ¹⁵ sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.

[62:12]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the redeemed of the Lord” (KJV, NAB).