The Lord’s Glory in Zion

60 Arise, shine, for your light has come,(A)
and the glory of the Lord shines over you.[a](B)
For look, darkness will cover the earth,
and total darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will shine over you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to your shining brightness.(C)

Raise your eyes and look around:
they all gather and come to you;
your sons will come from far away,
and your daughters on the hips of nursing mothers.(D)
Then you will see and be radiant,(E)
and your heart will tremble and rejoice,[b]
because the riches of the sea will become yours
and the wealth of the nations will come to you.(F)
Caravans of camels will cover your land[c]
young camels of Midian and Ephah—
all of them will come from Sheba.(G)
They will carry gold and frankincense(H)
and proclaim the praises of the Lord.
All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you;
the rams of Nebaioth will serve you(I)
and go up on my altar as an acceptable sacrifice.(J)
I will glorify my beautiful house.(K)

Who are these who fly like a cloud,
like doves to their shelters?(L)
Yes, the coasts and islands will wait for me(M)
with the ships of Tarshish in the lead,(N)
to bring your children from far away,(O)
their silver and gold with them,
for the honor of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,(P)
who has glorified you.(Q)

10 Foreigners will rebuild your walls,(R)
and their kings will serve you.(S)
Although I struck you in my wrath,
yet I will show mercy to you with my favor.(T)
11 Your city gates will always be open;
they will never be shut day or night
so that the wealth of the nations
may be brought into you,(U)
with their kings being led in procession.
12 For the nation and the kingdom
that will not serve you will perish;
those nations will be annihilated.(V)
13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you(W)
its pine, elm, and cypress together(X)
to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
and I will glorify my dwelling place.[d]
14 The sons of your oppressors
will come and bow down to you;(Y)
all who reviled you
will fall facedown at your feet.(Z)
They will call you the City of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.(AA)

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Footnotes

  1. 60:1 = Jerusalem
  2. 60:5 Lit expand
  3. 60:6 Lit cover you
  4. 60:13 Lit glorify the place of my feet

Zion’s Future Splendor

60 “Arise! Shine! For your light arrives!
The splendor[a] of the Lord shines on you!
For, look, darkness covers the earth
and deep darkness covers[b] the nations,
but the Lord shines on you;
his splendor[c] appears over you.
Nations come to your light,
kings to your bright light.
Look all around you![d]
They all gather and come to you—
your sons come from far away,
and your daughters are escorted by guardians.
Then you will look and smile,[e]
you will be excited and your heart will swell with pride.[f]
For the riches of distant lands[g] will belong to you,
and the wealth of nations will come to you.
Camel caravans will cover your roads,[h]
young camels from Midian and Ephah.
All the merchants of Sheba[i] will come,
bringing gold and incense
and singing praises to the Lord.[j]
All the sheep of Kedar will be gathered to you;
the rams of Nebaioth will be available to you as sacrifices.[k]
They will go up on my altar acceptably,[l]
and I will bestow honor on my majestic temple.
Who are these who float along[m] like a cloud,
who fly like doves to their shelters?[n]
Indeed, the coastlands[o] look eagerly for me;
the large ships[p] are in the lead,
bringing your sons from far away,
along with their silver and gold,
to honor the Lord your God,[q]
the Holy One of Israel,[r] for he has bestowed honor on you.
10 Foreigners will rebuild your walls;
their kings will serve you.
Even though I struck you down in my anger,
I will restore my favor and have compassion on you.[s]
11 Your gates will remain open at all times;
they will not be shut during the day or at night,
so that the wealth of nations may be delivered,
with their kings leading the way.[t]
12 Indeed,[u] nations or kingdoms that do not serve you will perish;
such nations will definitely be destroyed.[v]
13 The splendor of Lebanon will come to you,
its evergreens, firs, and cypresses together,
to beautify my palace;[w]
I will bestow honor on my throne room.[x]
14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you;
all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet.
They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord,
Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’[y]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 60:1 tn Or “glory” (so most English versions).
  2. Isaiah 60:2 tn The verb “covers” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
  3. Isaiah 60:2 tn Or “glory” (so most English versions); TEV “the brightness of his presence.”
  4. Isaiah 60:4 tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see!”
  5. Isaiah 60:5 tn Or “shine,” or “be radiant” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
  6. Isaiah 60:5 tn Heb “and it will tremble and be wide, your heart.”
  7. Isaiah 60:5 tn Heb “the wealth of the sea,” i.e., wealth that is transported from distant lands via the sea.
  8. Isaiah 60:6 tn Heb “an abundance of camels will cover you.”
  9. Isaiah 60:6 tn Heb “all of them, from Sheba.”
  10. Isaiah 60:6 tn Heb “and they will announce the praises of the Lord.”
  11. Isaiah 60:7 tn Heb “will serve you,” i.e., be available as sacrifices (see the next line). Another option is to understood these “rams” as symbolic of leaders who will be subject to the people of Zion. See v. 10.
  12. Isaiah 60:7 tc Heb “they will go up on acceptance [on] my altar.” Some have suggested that the preposition עַל (ʿal) is dittographic (note the preceding יַעֲלוּ [yaʿalu]). Consequently, the form should be emended to לְרָצוֹן (leratson, “acceptably”; see BDB 953 s.v. רָצוֹן). However, the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has both לרצון followed by the preposition על, which would argue against deleting the preposition. As the above translation seeks to demonstrate, the preposition עַל (ʿal) indicates a norm (“in accordance with acceptance” or “acceptably”; IBHS 218 §11.2.13e, n. 111), and the “altar” functions as an objective accusative with a verb of motion (cf. Gen 49:4; Lev 2:2; Num 13:17; J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:534, n. 14).
  13. Isaiah 60:8 tn Heb “fly” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NAB, NIV “fly along.”
  14. Isaiah 60:8 tn Heb “to their windows,” i.e., to the openings in their coops. See HALOT 83 s.v. אֲרֻבָּה.
  15. Isaiah 60:9 tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”
  16. Isaiah 60:9 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.
  17. Isaiah 60:9 tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”
  18. Isaiah 60:9 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
  19. Isaiah 60:10 tn Heb “in my favor I will have compassion on you.”
  20. Isaiah 60:11 tn Or “led in procession.” The participle is passive.
  21. Isaiah 60:12 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); TEV “But.”
  22. Isaiah 60:12 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
  23. Isaiah 60:13 tn Or “holy place, sanctuary.”
  24. Isaiah 60:13 tn Heb “the place of my feet.” See Ezek 43:7, where the Lord’s throne is called the “place of the soles of my feet.”
  25. Isaiah 60:14 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.