Isaiah 62
Isaiah 62 opens with a voice that will not be quiet. For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth (v. 1). Someone - the prophet, and behind him the heart of God - has set himself to keep crying out until the long-humbled city is vindicated before the watching world. The chapters around it have been heavy with Zion in ruins, called names that fit a widow and a ruin. Now the tone turns, and what follows is one of the warmest passages in all the prophets.3
At the center of the chapter is a gift no army could win and no labour could earn: a new name. Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name (v. 2). The city that bore the names Forsaken and Desolate is given new ones from God's own lips - Hephzibah, my delight is in her, and Beulah, married - and the reason is laid bare in language drawn straight from a wedding: for the LORD delighteth in thee… and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee (vv. 4-5). The reversal is total. The abandoned becomes the cherished; the empty becomes the beloved.
The rest of the chapter shows that love refusing to sit still. Watchmen are posted on the walls who never hold their peace day nor night (v. 6), charged to give the LORD no rest until His promise is finished and Jerusalem is made a praise in the earth. The gates are thrown open, the road is cleared, and a word is sent to the end of the world: Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him (v. 11). The chapter ends by handing out the last and dearest of the new names - no longer Forsaken, but Sought out, A city not forsaken (v. 12).
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Isaiah 62:1-5Thou Shalt Be Called by a New Name
1For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. 2And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. 3Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. 5For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
The chapter opens not with a promise but with a refusal to be silent: For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth (v. 1). The voice is the prophet's, but it carries the very heart of God behind it - a determination that the long-humbled city will not be left in her shame. Notice the two images chosen for her coming vindication: brightness and a lamp that burneth. Righteousness and salvation are not abstractions here; they are pictured as light breaking out where there had been darkness, a flame no one can ignore. And the speaker binds himself to her cause with the strongest words available - I will not hold my peace… I will not rest… until. This is love that will not stop short. It does not wait passively for things to improve; it presses, cries out, refuses to fall silent until the work is done. The whole chapter flows from this opening pressure - a God so set on His people's good that He will not let the matter drop until their salvation blazes like a lamp for all the world to see.3
What the watching world will finally see is staggering: And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name (v. 2). The same city that had been a byword among the nations, an object lesson in ruin, will become a spectacle of glory that draws the eyes of kings. And the centerpiece of the transformation is a new name. In the world of the Bible a name is never a mere label; it carries identity, destiny, the truth of what a thing is. To be given a new name is to be made new - Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel - and here the renaming is done by the highest authority there is: the mouth of the LORD shall name. No committee of neighbors decides what she is called now; God does, with His own lips. The next verse presses the dignity further: Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God (v. 3). She is not merely forgiven; she is lifted up like a jeweled crown held aloft in God's own hand for all to see - His treasure, His glory, openly displayed.
Now the new names are spoken, and the contrast could not be sharper: Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married (v. 4). Hear the names she is losing. Forsaken - abandoned, left behind, the name of a wife sent away or a widow with no one. Desolate - the name of empty fields and a ruined, unpeopled land. These were not insults from enemies; they were, in her affliction, simply true. And against them God sets two new names that overturn each one exactly. Over Forsaken He speaks Hephzibah - my delight is in her. Over Desolate He speaks Beulah - married, no longer empty but joined, no longer alone but belonging. And the reason given is not her improvement but His affection: for the LORD delighteth in thee. This is the hinge of the whole chapter. The change in her names is not the reward for a change in her behaviour; it flows from a change in how she is regarded - from the delight of God, freely set upon her, renaming everything she had been.
The fifth verse reaches for the most intimate picture a person could be given of how God feels toward His own: For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee (v. 5). The image is a wedding, and at its center is rejoicing. Think of what is meant by a bridegroom rejoicing over his bride - not duty, not tolerance, not a grudging acceptance, but delight that cannot be contained, gladness at the very sight of the beloved. God says His own joy over His people runs like that. The earlier promise that the land would be married (v. 4) is now unfolded: the relationship being restored is as close, as glad, as covenant-deep as marriage itself. There is also a quiet promise of life and fruitfulness folded in - the once-desolate land filled again with her own people, as a young man marrieth a virgin. But the line that lingers is the last one. The God who had every reason, in her ruin, to turn away instead turns toward her with the unguarded joy of a groom at his wedding. Whatever names she had collected in her grief, this is the truth underneath them now: her God rejoices over her.
Isaiah 62:6-9Watchmen Upon Thy Walls
6I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, 7And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: 9But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
The chapter now turns from the new name to the work of keeping the promise alive: I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence (v. 6). A watchman on a city wall was a familiar sight - posted to keep his eyes open through the long hours, to sound the alarm at danger and call out the approach of help. But these watchmen are given a strange and beautiful charge. Their task is not to scan for enemies; it is to keep not silence. They are appointed to cry out, day and night, without pause. And what they cry is named in the same breath: they make mention of the LORD - they keep His promises before Him, they will not let the matter rest. The opening of the chapter circles back here. There the prophet said, I will not hold my peace… I will not rest (v. 1); now that same unceasing voice is multiplied into a company of watchmen who never hold their peace day nor night. God Himself has set them there. The persistent voice that refuses to fall silent until Zion is vindicated is not a lonely one; it is an appointed, around-the-clock chorus.3
The charge to the watchmen grows bolder still: And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth (v. 7). The him here is the LORD, and the words are arresting - the watchmen are told to give him no rest. God invites His people to press Him, to hold Him to His own word, to keep crying out until what He promised is done. This is not irreverence; it is the boldness of those who have been told what God means to do and now plead for its arrival. There is a goal fixed to the pleading: till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The aim is not merely that the city survive but that she become a praise - something the whole earth points to and honours, the visible proof of what her God is like. So the unsleeping prayer of verse 6 is given its direction here. The watchmen are not crying out into the dark for nothing in particular; they are pressing toward a settled end, the day when the once-Forsaken city stands established and her glory is sung among the nations. It is a picture of prayer at its most tenacious - refusing to let go, refusing to give God rest, until the promise is fully kept.
To steady the watchmen in their long vigil, God now binds Himself with an oath: The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured (v. 8). When God swears by his right hand and the arm of his strength, He is staking His own power as the guarantee - the surest pledge there could be. And the content of the oath speaks straight to an old, bitter wound. To labour over a harvest and then watch invaders carry it off, to work a vineyard and see strangers drink the wine, was the recurring grief of a conquered people; their toil fed someone else. God swears that grief is over. Surely I will no more - never again - give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies. The promise turns specific and homely: they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness (v. 9). The ones who do the work will enjoy its fruit, and they will do so as worship - eating and drinking in the courts of my holiness, their ordinary harvest turned into thanksgiving in God's own presence. The new name was a matter of identity; this is a matter of daily bread. The same God who renames the people also secures their table, so that labour and harvest and worship are knit back together as they were meant to be.
Isaiah 62:10-12Behold, Thy Salvation Cometh
10Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. 11Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
The chapter quickens into a flurry of commands, each one doubled for urgency: Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people (v. 10). Something is about to happen, and a road must be ready for it. The images are those of building a great highway for the return of an exiled people - raising up the roadbed, clearing away the loose stones that would trip a traveler, planting a banner high so that the scattered can see where to gather. The doubling - go through, go through… cast up, cast up - gives the verse the breathless feel of preparation that cannot wait. Earlier in Isaiah the same summons rang out: Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God - the very words the Gospels would take up for the one who came before Christ. Here the road is being made ready not only for the people to come home but for their salvation to arrive. Every obstacle is to be cleared, every barrier thrown open, the way made smooth - because the long-promised deliverance is on its way, and the city must be ready to receive it.
Now the reason for all the urgent road-work is announced to the whole world: Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him (v. 11). The proclamation is not whispered to a corner of Judah; it is published unto the end of the world. And the heart of it is a single announcement, set off twice by that ringing Behold: the salvation she has waited for is coming. Notice that salvation here is spoken of almost as a person on the way - thy salvation cometh - arriving with his reward… and his work before him. The picture is of one who comes not empty-handed but bringing the wages of His labour with Him, ready to give to His people what He has won. After all the chapter's waiting - the unsilenced prophet, the unsleeping watchmen, the oath, the cleared highway - the announcement finally lands: the deliverance is no longer merely promised; it is on the road and nearly here. To the city that had been told for so long to wait, the word now is to look up: Behold - He comes, and He brings your salvation with Him.
The chapter closes by returning, one last time, to the theme of names - and saving the dearest for last: And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken (v. 12). Four names are spoken over the people here, and each is a gift. The holy people - set apart, belonging wholly to God. The redeemed of the LORD - those bought back, ransomed out of their captivity by their God. And then the two that land with the most force, because they answer the chapter's opening grief directly. Sought out - not abandoned to fend for herself, but searched for, pursued, the object of someone's deliberate seeking. And A city not forsaken - the exact undoing of verse 4's Forsaken. The chapter that began with a city left and ruined ends with a city sought and kept. The last word over her is not what she lost but who came looking for her. It is the same grace that gave her the name Hephzibah now spelled out in full: she is the people God set Himself to seek, and having sought her, will never again leave her forsaken.2
Further study
- The Hebrew text of Isaiah 62 with Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and other classical commentators side by side - useful for the new names Hephzibah (v. 4, chephtzi-bah, “my delight is in her”) and Beulah (v. 4, be'ulah, “married”), and for the marriage verb that runs through verses 4-5.
- Isaiah 62 ↔ Revelation 19 & 21 · Ephesians 5 · 1 Peter 2Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Isaiah 62 to the rest of Scripture - the new name (v. 2) read alongside a new name written (Rev. 2:17; 3:12), the once-Forsaken renamed beloved (v. 4) beside now the people of God (1 Pet. 2:10), and God rejoicing as a bridegroom over a bride (v. 5) beside the marriage of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7) and Christ and the church (Eph. 5:25-32).
- Isaiah 62 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Isaiah 62 - the unsleeping vigil of verse 1, the meaning of the names Hephzibah and Beulah in verse 4, the marriage imagery of verse 5, the posted watchmen of verses 6-7, and the herald's cry of salvation coming in verse 11.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Thou Shalt Be Called by a New Name
- Isaiah 54:5-6For thy Maker is thine husband... For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit.The same bridal reversal as verses 4-5 - the forsaken one called back as a cherished wife.
- Revelation 2:17I will give him... a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.The new name of verse 2 - given by God to all who overcome in Christ.
- Revelation 3:12I will write upon him the name of my God... and I will write upon him my new name.The renaming of verse 2 fulfilled - Christ’s own new name written on His people.
- 1 Peter 2:10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.The Forsaken-to-Hephzibah reversal of verse 4 - those once outside now called God’s own.
- Zephaniah 3:17The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty... he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.The same astonishing image as verse 5 - God rejoicing over His people, even singing over them.
Watchmen Upon Thy Walls
- Ezekiel 3:17Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning.The watchman’s calling behind verse 6 - one set on the wall who must not stay silent.
- Luke 18:7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?The day-and-night crying of verse 6 - Christ’s own picture of persistent prayer that does not faint.
- Matthew 6:10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.The end the watchmen press toward in verse 7 - that God would establish His kingdom on the earth.
- Deuteronomy 28:30-33thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein... thy labours shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up.The old grief reversed by the oath of verses 8-9 - the harvest no longer carried off by enemies.
- Revelation 22:20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.The unceasing cry of verses 6-7 on the lips of the church - pressing for the promise until it comes.
Behold, Thy Salvation Cometh
- Matthew 21:5Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass.The herald’s cry of verse 11 fulfilled - the King and salvation of Zion coming in person.
- Isaiah 40:3Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.The cleared highway of verse 10 - the road made ready for the coming of God.
- Revelation 22:12And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.The very words of verse 11 - the One who comes bringing His reward with Him.
- Luke 19:10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.The new name of verse 12 lived out - the people Sought out by the One who came seeking the lost.
- Revelation 19:7Let us be glad and rejoice... for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.The bridal joy of verse 5 brought to its end - the marriage of the Lamb and His made-ready bride.