For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God.
- KJV For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
- NKJV For the Lord has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,” Says your God.
- NASB “For the Lord has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” Says your God.
- NLT For the Lord has called you back from your grief— as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,” says your God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God has called His people back like a forsaken, grieved wife of one's youth. It matters because He restores the relationship rather than abandoning it.
Overview
The exile is likened to a young wife cast off and heartbroken, yet God recalls her to Himself. The tenderness of 'wife of youth' underscores His enduring affection despite estrangement. This reflects the gospel pattern of God seeking and restoring those who were alienated from Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 62:4No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride.
- Eccl 9:9Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.
- Prov 5:18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
- Hos 2:14–15“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.
- Hos 2:1–2“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’
- Isa 49:14–21But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”
- Mal 2:14Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
- Isa 50:1–2This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
- 2 Cor 7:9–10And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.
- Matt 11:28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- 2 Cor 7:6But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 54:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.