Isaiah60chapter 60

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee opens the comfort book's brightest chapter, addressed to Zion as a woman told to rise out of the darkness just described in chapter 59. Verse 2 sets the light against a world still covered in gross darkness, so that Zion's brightness is not the world's general condition but a light shining against a dark background, and verse 3 draws the nations toward it, the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Delitzsch reads the imperative arise as addressed to a people still sitting in the posture of exile, and Barnes notes the reversal from chapter 59's darkness, where the people groped for the wall like the blind, to this chapter's summons to rise and shine.

Isaiah 60:4-5

Lift up thine eyes round about, and see gathers a scene of return, thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side, the exiles pictured as children carried home. Verse 5 adds the emotional register, thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged, fear and enlargement together as the abundance of the sea and the forces of the Gentiles arrive. Henry reads the flowing together of verse 5 as wealth converted to Zion's use rather than kept for its own sake, and Gill notes the sea's abundance and the Gentiles' forces named in the same clause as two streams feeding the same city.

Isaiah 60:6-7

The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah names the caravan routes of Arabia arriving with Sheba's gold and incense, so that a single verse maps three named regions bringing their trade into Zion. Verse 7 turns to livestock, the flocks of Kedar and the rams of Nebaioth, both named for sons of Ishmael in Genesis, offered on the altar with acceptance and gathered under the same phrase, the house of my glory. Barnes reads the pairing of caravan wealth and pastoral wealth as covering the whole economy of the desert peoples, and Delitzsch notes Kedar and Nebaioth's descent from Ishmael as evidence that even Abraham's other line is pictured coming in rather than shut out.

Isaiah 60:8-9

Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows pictures ships under full sail seen from a distance, white against the horizon like a flock of doves returning to their cotes. Verse 9 answers its own question, the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, the same distant western trade route named at the opening of the Tyre oracle in chapter 23, now carrying exiles home rather than merchandise away. Gill reads the doves as the ships' sails seen at a distance, and Clarke notes the phrase unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel naming the title that runs through both halves of the book.

Isaiah 60:10-12

The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee reverses the usual pattern of conquest, foreign hands rebuilding rather than tearing down, because in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Verse 11 gives the reversal a physical shape, thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, a city with no need to bar its gates against attack, its openness itself the sign of peace, language Rev 21:25-26 carries forward for the city that has no night. Barnes reads the open gate as picturing unbroken commerce and unbroken safety together, and Gill notes verse 12's warning, the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish, standing alongside the promise so that the open gate is never presented without the requirement to come through it in submission.

Isaiah 60:13-14

The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together names the cedar country's finest timber brought to beautify the place of my sanctuary, echoing the temple's own building materials centuries earlier. Verse 14 turns from timber to people, the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, former oppressors now bowing at the soles of thy feet and giving the city a new name, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Henry reads the reversal of verse 14 as complete, the very nations that once humbled Zion now honoring her, and Barnes notes the new name given in verse 14 as the same title, Holy One of Israel, that runs through the whole book from chapter 6 forward.

Isaiah 60:15-16

Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee names the desolation directly before promising its opposite, an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Verse 16 pictures the reversal as nursing, thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings, the nations' wealth pictured as nourishment rather than tribute, before closing on the title pair the whole book returns to, thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. Delitzsch reads the nursing image as deliberately domestic against the military language surrounding it, and Wesley notes mighty One of Jacob as a title reaching back to Jacob's own blessing in Genesis 49.

Isaiah 60:17-18

For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver pictures an economy upgraded metal by metal, each substitution named in turn, wood for brass and stones for iron, before the same principle is applied to leadership, thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Verse 18 extends the upgrade to security itself, violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, so that the city's walls and gates are renamed for what they now guarantee, Salvation and Praise. Clarke reads the metal exchange as figurative for every kind of improvement, not a literal inventory, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note the renaming of walls and gates as following the pattern already set in verse 14's new name for the city itself.

Isaiah 60:19-20

The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee replaces the created lights with the Lord himself, the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory, language Rev 21:23 keeps almost intact for the city that needed no sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it. Verse 20 repeats the promise from a different angle, thy sun shall no more go down, closing on the reason for its permanence, the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Delitzsch reads the doubled promise across two verses as deliberate emphasis, and Barnes notes the New Testament's own use of the language in Revelation as evidence the early church read this chapter as reaching toward the same final city Isaiah describes.

Isaiah 60:21-22

Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever names the promise's final condition, a righteous people permanently possessing the land, called the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified, the same branch vocabulary chapter 11 used of the shoot from Jesse's stem. Verse 22 closes the chapter with growth pictured in numbers, a little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation, the small remnant multiplying until it fills out the promise. Henry reads the closing line, I the Lord will hasten it in his time, as balancing the certainty of the promise against its own timing, not rushed by human impatience but not delayed past its appointed hour either, and Gill notes the branch language of verse 21 as tying the chapter's ending back to the shoot of chapter 11.