UNROLL
Dawn over wide, empty grazing hills: one small black goat-hair tent pitched low on a broad slope, with open ground all around it and long morning shadows.

The Servant and Zion

Isaiah 54

Has your life ever felt too small for what God promised?

17 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restoredChapter 54
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

Future Blessings for Zion

God
A woman seen from behind at the open door of a goat-hair tent at dawn, her arms lifted toward wide hills.

“Shout for joy, O barren woman,

who bears no children;

break forth in song and cry aloud,

you who have never travailed;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

than of her who has a husband,”

says the LORD.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God
God

Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame;

do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated.

For you will forget the shame of your youth

and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

God

For your husband is your Maker—

the LORD of Hosts is His name—

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

He is called the God of all the earth.

God

For the LORD has called you back,

like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit,

like the rejected wife of one’s youth,”

says your God.

God

“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.

God
A dark rain squall moving off a hillside village of flat stone roofs, the sun breaking out again behind it on the wet roofs and terraces, the last rain still falling far off.

In a surge of anger

I hid My face from you for a moment,

but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,”

says the LORD your Redeemer.

Question

Quick question

The song of the barren woman is sung again in the New Testament.

Paul quotes “Shout for joy, O barren woman” in which letter?

God
A wide green valley after rain at evening, the foot of a rainbow standing on the far hills under a clearing sky.

“For to Me this is like the days of Noah,

when I swore that the waters of Noah

would never again cover the earth.

So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you

or rebuke you.

God

Though the mountains may be removed

and the hills may be shaken,

My loving devotion will not depart from you,

and My covenant of peace will not be broken,”

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Isaiah 54:10

God
The lowest course of a city wall after a storm: great cut foundation stones of deep-blue lapis lazuli flecked with gold in dark mortar, rain still wet on them, a gate jamb faced with red carnelian beside them.

“O afflicted city, lashed by storms,

without solace,

surely I will set your stones in antimony

and lay your foundations with sapphires.

I will make your pinnacles of rubies,

your gates of sparkling jewels,

and all your walls of precious stones.

God
God

Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD,

and great will be their prosperity.

God

In righteousness you will be established,

far from oppression,

for you will have no fear.

Terror will be far removed,

for it will not come near you.

God
Dusk in a rocky wadi: a small round clay furnace glows at its base while a man works a goatskin bellows with his feet, green-stained slag heaped nearby and smoke rising straight up.

If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me;

whoever assails you will fall before you.

Behold, I have created the craftsman

who fans the coals into flame

and forges a weapon fit for its task;

and I have created the destroyer

to wreak havoc.

God
Morning outside the open gate of a hill town: a snapped spear and a dented round shield lying unused in the dust; through the gate a quiet lane where a woman fetches water.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper,

and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,

and their vindication is from Me,”

declares the LORD.

0:13

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

LORD of Hosts, my Maker and Redeemer, Your anger lasts a moment and Your kindness forever. The mountains may move, but Your loving devotion will not leave me. Teach me, and keep me in Your peace. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 54

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A verse to carry with you

Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Isaiah 54:10

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