“And what do I see flying like clouds to Israel, like doves to their nests?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
- KJV Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
- BSB Who are these who fly like clouds, like doves to their shelters?
- NKJV “Who are these who fly like a cloud, And like doves to their roosts?
- NASB “Who are these who fly like a cloud And like the doves to their windows?
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 marvels at the returning multitudes who come swiftly like clouds and homing doves. The eager, swift return of God's people is a wonder.
Overview
The prophet pictures throngs streaming back so quickly they resemble drifting clouds and doves flying to their nests. The imagery conveys both abundance and the homing instinct of God's people returning to Him. It foreshadows the gathering of the redeemed who, drawn by the gospel, hasten home to God through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Rev 7:9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
- Luke 13:29They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom.
- Isa 60:4“Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried in arms.
- Heb 12:1Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
- Isa 49:21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”
- Gen 8:8–11He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground,
- Isa 45:22“Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
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 60:8 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.