“For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, And the nations will be utterly ruined.
Parallel translations
- WEB For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
- KJV For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
- BSB For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly destroyed.
- NKJV For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be utterly ruined.
- NLT For the nations that refuse to serve you will be destroyed.
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
Any nation that refuses to serve Zion will perish. Rejecting God's purposes for His people brings ruin.
Overview
God warns that the nation or kingdom that will not serve Zion shall perish and be laid waste. The promise of blessing to the nations carries a corresponding judgment for persistent opposition. The verse affirms God's sovereign exaltation of His redemptive people, finally fulfilled in the universal lordship of Christ, before whom every nation must bow or fall.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Zech 14:12–19This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.
- Isa 54:15Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
- Isa 41:11Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.
- Dan 2:44–45In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
- Ps 2:12Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
- Isa 14:2The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
- Zech 12:2–4“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem.
- Luke 19:27But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”
- Rev 2:26–27He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.
- Matt 21:44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”
- Dan 2:35Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
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 60:12 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.