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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 62

1 For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines brightly and her deliverance burns like a torch. 2 Nations will see your vindication, and all kings your splendor. You will be called by a new name that the Lord himself will give you. 3 You will be a majestic crown in the hand of the Lord, a royal turban in the hand of your God.⁠ 4 You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,” and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.” Indeed, you will be called “My Delight is in Her” and your land “Married.” For the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married to him. 5 As a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so your God will rejoice over you. 6 I post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they should keep praying all day and all night. You who pray to the Lord, don’t be silent!⁠ 7 Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth. 8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand, by his strong arm: “I will never again give your grain to your enemies as food, and foreigners will not drink your wine, which you worked hard to produce.⁠ 9 “But those who harvest the grain will eat it, and will praise the Lord. Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine in the courts of my holy sanctuary.” 10 Come through! Come through the gates! Prepare the way for the people! Build it—build the roadway! Remove the stones. Lift a signal flag for the nations. 11 Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘Look, your deliverer comes! Look, his reward is with him, and his reward goes before him!’” 12 They will be called, “The Holy People, the Ones Protected by the Lord.” You will be called, “Sought After, City Not Abandoned.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 62:6 and Lamentations 2:19

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Lamentations calls on the night watch of Zion to raise their hands in prayer for children wasting away in hunger. Isaiah similarly depicts watchmen on Jerusalem’s walls who also stay awake through the night, with their task to call out for restoration.

Passages

Isaiah 62:6

Hebrew Bible
4 You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,” and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.” Indeed, you will be called “My Delight is in Her” and your land “Married.” For the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married to him. 5 As a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so your God will rejoice over you. 6 I post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they should keep praying all day and all night. You who pray to the Lord, don’t be silent! 7 Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth. 8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand, by his strong arm: “I will never again give your grain to your enemies as food, and foreigners will not drink your wine, which you worked hard to produce.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Lamentations 2:19

Hebrew Bible
17 ע (Ayin) The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his promise that he threatened long ago: He has overthrown you without mercy and has enabled the enemy to gloat over you; he has exalted your adversaries’ power. 18 צ (Tsade) Cry out from your heart to the Lord, O wall of Daughter Zion! Make your tears flow like a river all day and all night long! Do not rest; do not let your tears stop! 19 ק (Qof) Get up! Cry out in the night when the night watches start! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift up your hands to him for your children’s lives; they are fainting from hunger at every street corner. 20 ר (Resh) Look, O Lord! Consider! Whom have you ever afflicted like this? Should women eat their offspring, their healthy infants? Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary? 21 ש (Sin/Shin) The young boys and old men lie dead on the ground in the streets. My young women and my young men have fallen by the sword. You killed them when you were angry; you slaughtered them without mercy.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Lamentations

References

"... The opening of Lamentations 2 finds its mirror image immediately in the opening of Psalm 24. The footstool that God has forgotten is matched by verse 1a of the psalm. The precise identity of the earth, equating it with the footstool and thus linking both passages, is provided by Isaiah 66:1, which exclaims “The heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool” ... One of the motifs in Lamentations 2 is the repeated use of terms indicating a downward direction (as in verses 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 21), indicating the general tone of the poem. It is only in the direct appeal to the walls of Bat Tsiyon in Lamentations 2:19 that a glimmer of hope is introduced by using ‘uplifting’ language when she is encouraged to protest and counteract the downward spiral by rising up and lifting up her hands in prayer ..."
Carla Sulzbach, “Of Gates in the Ground and Castles in the Air: A Case of Biblical Unreal Estate,” SJOT 26.2 (2012): 266–288.

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 62:6 and Lamentations 2:19

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