Isaiah 62:8-12

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

by his strong arm: ¹ 

“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 ²  will eat it,

and will praise the Lord.

Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine ³ 

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: ⁴ 

“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘Look, your deliverer comes!

Look, his reward is with him

and his reward goes before him!’” ⁵ 

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

the Ones Protected ⁶  by the Lord.”

You will be called, “Sought After,

City Not Abandoned.”

[62:8]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “it,” the grain mentioned in v. 8a.

[62:9]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so NASB, NRSV).

[62:11]  ⁵ sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.

[62:12]  ⁶ tn Or “the redeemed of the Lord” (KJV, NAB).