¶“Foreigners will build up your walls, And their kings will serve you; For in My wrath I struck you, And in My favor I have had compassion on you.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
- KJV And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
- BSB Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in anger, yet in favor I will show you mercy.
- NKJV “Thesons of foreigners shall build up your walls, And their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, But in My favor I have had mercy on you.
- NLT “Foreigners will come to rebuild your towns, and their kings will serve you. For though I have destroyed you in my anger, I will now have mercy on you through my grace.
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
Foreigners will rebuild Zion's walls and kings will serve her, for in mercy God has restored her after striking her in wrath. God's discipline gives way to His favor and restoration.
Overview
God promises that foreigners will build up Zion's walls and kings will minister to her, for though He struck her in wrath, He now shows mercy. The movement from judgment to favor highlights God's redemptive purpose for His people. This pattern of wrath turned to mercy is supremely realized at the cross, where judgment falls on Christ so that mercy reaches His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 61:5Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.
- Isa 49:23Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
- Rev 21:26and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter.
- Rev 21:24The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
- Isa 60:3Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
- Isa 14:1–2For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
- Zech 6:15Those who are far off shall come and build in Yahweh’s temple; and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey Yahweh your God’s voice.”’”
- Isa 54:7–8“For a small moment I have forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you.
- Isa 57:17–18I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness, and struck him; I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
- Ps 30:5For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
- Isa 12:1In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me.
- Ezra 6:3–12In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning God’s house at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid; with its height sixty cubits, and its width sixty cubits;
- Ezra 7:12–28Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. Now
- Neh 2:7–9Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah;
- Isa 66:21Of them I will also select priests and Levites,” says Yahweh.
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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 60:10 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
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