Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 49:18 describes children being worn like ornaments, which appears to allude to Jeremiah 2:32, where a bride’s jewelry symbolizes remembrance and devotion. In Jeremiah, the image marks a failure to remember, while in Isaiah it is transformed into a sign of restoration.
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Jeremiah 2:32
Hebrew Bible
31 You people of this generation, listen to the Lord’s message:“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel? Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? Why then do you say, ‘We are free to wander. We will not come to you anymore?’ 32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels? Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire? But my people have forgotten me for more days than can even be counted. 33 “My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Isaiah 49:18
Hebrew Bible
17 Your children hurry back, while those who destroyed and devastated you depart. 18 Look all around you! All of them gather to you. As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry; you will put them on as if you were a bride. 19 Yes, your land lies in ruins; it is desolate and devastated. But now you will be too small to hold your residents, and those who devoured you will be far away.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The somewhat unusual image of children worn like a jewel may be motivated by a literary allusion. Benjamin Sommer has proposed that Second Isaiah explicitly has in mind Jeremiah 2:32: “Does a virgin forget her jewels, / a bride her knotted sash?” In our text, the forgetting is transferred from jewels to children, and “jewel”—the same Hebrew word, ʿadi — becomes a metaphorical representation of the children. Since producing children was imagined in this culture as a woman’s greatest fulfillment, it logically follows that they are her chief ornament, what she can glory in before the eyes of the world. ..."
Alter, Robert
The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary
(p. 2931) W. W. Norton & Company, 2018
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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