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You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
Isaiah 55:12 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.
  • KJV For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
  • BSB You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
  • NKJV “Foryou shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
  • NASB “For you will go out with joy And be led in peace; The mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

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

The redeemed will go out with joy and peace as mountains, hills, and trees rejoice before them. It matters because salvation brings joy that even creation shares.

Overview

The return from exile is pictured as a joyful procession celebrated by all creation singing and clapping. This reflects the truth that redemption reverses the curse and restores harmony. It anticipates the renewal of all things in Christ, when creation itself is freed and joins the joy of God's redeemed people (Rom. 8:21).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 31

  • Gal 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
  • Rom 15:13Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Isa 44:23Sing, you heavens, for Yahweh has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees, for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.
  • Ps 105:43He brought his people out with joy, his chosen with singing.
  • Ps 96:11–13Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and its fullness!
  • Rev 19:1–6After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our God:
  • Ps 98:7–9Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.
  • Isa 49:13Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break out into singing, mountains: for Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.
  • 1 Chr 16:32–33Let the sea roar, and its fullness! Let the field exult, and all that is in it!
  • Isa 35:10The Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
  • Ps 65:13The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.
  • Isa 35:1–2The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
  • Rom 5:1Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
  • Isa 48:20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth: say, “Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
  • Jer 33:6‘Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.
  • Isa 54:10For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Yahweh who has mercy on you.
  • Ps 148:4–13Praise him, you heavens of heavens, You waters that are above the heavens.
  • Jer 30:19Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.
  • Col 1:11strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy;
  • Isa 14:8Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.”
  • Isa 51:11Those ransomed by Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
  • Isa 54:13All your children will be taught by Yahweh; and your children’s peace will be great.
  • Luke 15:10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
  • Jer 33:11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into Yahweh’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first,” says Yahweh.
  • Isa 42:10–11Sing to Yahweh a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.
  • Ps 47:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Oh clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
  • Rom 5:11Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
  • Zech 2:7–10‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’
  • Isa 65:13–14Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed;
  • Isa 49:9–10saying to those who are bound, ‘Come out!’; to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ “They shall feed along the paths, and their pasture shall be on all treeless heights.
  • Jer 31:12–14They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 55:12YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 55:12 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.