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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 54

1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth! Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one are more numerous than the children of the married woman,”⁠ says the Lord. 2 Make your tent larger, stretch your tent curtains farther out! Spare no effort, lengthen your ropes, and pound your stakes deep. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your children will conquer nations and will resettle desolate cities. 4 Don’t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame. Don’t be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth; you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment. 5 For your husband is the one who made you—the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name. He is your Protector, the Holy One of Israel. He is called “God of the entire earth.” 6 “Indeed, the Lord will call you back like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, like a young wife when she has been rejected,”⁠ says your God. 7 “For a short time I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.⁠ 8 In a burst of anger I rejected you momentarily, but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,” says your Protector, the Lord. 9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood would never again cover the earth.⁠ In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.⁠ 10 Even if the mountains are removed and the hills displaced, my devotion will not be removed from you, nor will my covenant of friendship be displaced,” says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you. 11 “O afflicted one, driven away, and unconsoled! Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony and lay your foundation with lapis lazuli.⁠ 12 I will make your pinnacles out of gems, your gates out of beryl, and your outer wall out of beautiful stones. 13 All your children will be followers of the Lord, and your children will enjoy great prosperity.⁠ 14 You will be reestablished when I vindicate you. You will not experience oppression; indeed, you will not be afraid. You will not be terrified, for nothing frightening will come near you. 15 If anyone dares to challenge you, it will not be my doing! Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated. 16 Look, I create the craftsman, who fans the coals into a fire and forges a weapon. I create the destroyer so he might devastate.⁠ 17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed; you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. This is what the Lord will do for his servants—I will vindicate them,” says the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 54:1 and Wisdom of Solomon 3:13

Hebrew Bible · Deuterocanon

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Summary

The Wisdom of Solomon reshapes Isaiah’s call for the barren woman to rejoice and speaks to people without children, likely exiles in Babylon. Isaiah promises them honor and belonging, but Wisdom shifts attention to moral character rather than ritual.

Passages

Isaiah 54:1

Hebrew Bible
1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth! Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one are more numerous than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. 2 Make your tent larger, stretch your tent curtains farther out! Spare no effort, lengthen your ropes, and pound your stakes deep. 3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your children will conquer nations and will resettle desolate cities.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Wisdom of Solomon 3:13

Deuterocanon
11 for he who despises wisdom and discipline is miserable. Their hope is void and their toils unprofitable. Their works are useless. 12 Their wives are foolish and their children are wicked. 13 Their descendants are cursed. For the barren woman who is undefiled is happy, she who has not conceived in transgression. She will have fruit when God examines souls. 14 So is the eunuch who has done no lawless deed with his hands, nor imagined wicked things against the Lord; for a precious gift will be given to him for his faithfulness, and a delightful inheritance in the Lord’s sanctuary. 15 For good labors have fruit of great renown. The root of understanding can’t fail.
50 BCE – 50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Wisdom of Solomon

References

"... Wisdom of Solomon 3:13-14 ... The reference is clearly to Isaiah, where the prophet refers to those Jewish youth who were castrated at the hands of the Babylonian tyranny, and had consequently despaired of any share in Israel's future redemption (Deuteronomy 23:1-2). Isaiah encouraged them with the divine assurance: 'I will give them in My House and within My walls, a monument and a name better than sons or daughters.' According to Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 93b, the captivity of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah is the fulfillment of Isaiah 39:7 (= 2 Kings 20:18), and Rab takes the word 'eunuchs' in that verse literally. (The Talmud also identifies the 'eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths' in Isaiah 56:4 with Daniel and his three associates.) Compare Jerome's Commentary on Daniel 1:3; Origen's Commentary on Matthew 15:5; Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 6.9, 8d (where we are told that Daniel and his associates were eunuchs but were healed by passage through the fiery furnace). It should be noted that whereas Isaiah 56:3 refers to the Eunuch's observance of the Sabbath, our verse speaks only vaguely about his refraining from anomema ..."
David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979), 132.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 54:1 and Wisdom of Solomon 3:13

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