“Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
Parallel Translations
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“Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
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And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
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And aliens shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favour have I had compassion on thee.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Isaiah 60:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 61:5 Strangers will stand and feed your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.
- Isaiah 49:23 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
- Revelation 21:26 and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter.
- Isaiah 14:1-2 For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob. The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
- Isaiah 60:3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
- Zechariah 6:15 Those who are far off shall come and build in Yahweh’s temple; and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey Yahweh your God’s voice.” ’ ”
- Revelation 21:24 The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
- Psalms 30:5 For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me.
- Isaiah 54:7-8 “For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says Yahweh your Redeemer.
- Isaiah 57:17-18 I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him. I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.
- Ezra 6:3-12 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning God’s house at Jerusalem, let the house be built, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid; with its height sixty cubits, and its width sixty cubits; with three courses of great stones and a course of new timber. Let the expenses be given out of the king’s house. Also let the gold and silver vessels of God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, everything to its place. You shall put them in God’s house. Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, you must stay far from there. Leave the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place. Moreover I make a decree what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses must be given with all diligence to these men, that they not be hindered. That which they have need of, including young bulls, rams, and lambs, for burnt offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail; that they may offer sacrifices of pleasant aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons. I have also made a decree that whoever alters this message, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened on it; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who stretch out their hand to alter this, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree. Let it be done with all diligence.
- Ezra 7:12-28 Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. Now I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who intend of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with you. Because you are sent by the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of your God which is in your hand, and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that you will find in all the province of Babylon, with the free will offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; therefore you shall with all diligence buy with this money bulls, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that according to the will of your God. The vessels that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem. Whatever more will be needed for the house of your God, which you may have occasion to give, give it out of the king’s treasure house. I, even I Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, it shall be done with all diligence, up to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred cors of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Also we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or laborers of this house of God. You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, who all know the laws of your God; and teach him who doesn’t know them. Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it is to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem; and has extended loving kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh my God’s hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me.
- Nehemiah 2:7-9 Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.” The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me. Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
- Isaiah 66:21 Of them I will also select priests and Levites,” says Yahweh.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, Cyrus and his successors, but chiefly this is…
Meaning, Cyrus and his successors, but chiefly this is accomplished in them that serve Christ, being converted by his Gospel.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 60:10 And the sons of strangers shall build…
Isa 60:10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
Ver. 10. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls.] By preaching and writing for the truth, as did many famous Greek and Latin doctors; and since them, not a few of all nations.
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And their kings shall minister unto thee.] As did Cyrus and Darius; but especially Constantine the Great (who cared not what he bestowed upon the Church, and was therefore, in a jeer, by the heathens called Pupillus, as if he needed a guardian to order his expenses), Valentinian, Theodosius, Honorius, Justinian. Our Edward VI, {a} besides the much good he did at home, sent at one time five thousand pounds to relieve Protestants beyond seas. Queen Elizabeth sent both men and means in abundance to the relief of the French and Hollanders.
{a} His Life, by Sir John Heywood, p. 115.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The sons of strangers, viz. such as were not…
The sons of strangers, viz. such as were not Israelites; and he puts sons of strangers by a usual Hebraism for strangers, properly termed alienigenae: see Isa 56:3. This was literally fulfilled in repairing the walls of Jerusalem; he spake before of the temple, now of the city; and spiritually in the ministers of the gospel, who are the walls and bulwarks of the church by preaching and writing for her; and ecclesiastical history affords us many instances of kings and princes that were great benefactors to her, among whom Constantine did greatly excel, not caring what he bestowed on her, Valentinian and Theodosius, &c.
Shall minister; shall administer all necessaries to thee: as they had been demolished by the Babylonians, so they were repaired by the favour of Cyrus, Darius Hystaspes, Artsxerxes, &c., all strangers, Ezr 6:7, &c, or strangers becoming proselytes: see Isa 56:6.
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In my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee; as I afflicted thee in my anger, so out of my compassions I will abundantly bless thee.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the sons of strangers shall build up thy…
And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls,.... The sons of the people; or Gentiles, as the Targum; who were strangers from the covenants of promise, and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; strangers to God and Christ, and the Spirit of Christ, and to the Gospel, and all that is good; yet the sons of these, being in great numbers converted everywhere, will be useful in building up the church of God, in strengthening, protecting, and defending it; these are the same with those afar off, that shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, Zac 6:15, such there have been among the Gentiles in all ages, more or less, since the times of the apostles, who have been instruments of the edification of the church, and of the defence of its doctrines and ordinances; and more there will be in the latter day:
and their kings shall minister unto thee; that is, the kings of the Gentiles, as Constantine, and some other truly Christian kings and emperors, have done, though their numbers have been very small as yet; but, when this prophecy is fulfilled, it will be a general case; kings everywhere will be nursing fathers, and queens nursing mothers to the church, will serve the interest of it, and promote it to the uttermost of their power; see Isa 49:23,
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for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee; for the Jews' rejection of the Messiah, for their contempt of his Gospel, and persecution of his apostles and ministers, wrath came upon them to the uttermost, upon their city, temple, and nation, to the destruction of them, and which is still upon them; and though blindness is happened unto them, and they are shut up in unbelief, yet there is a time when the Lord will have mercy on them, call and convert them, and return their captivity; see Rom 11:25.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Minister - Shall administer all necessaries to thee. I…
Minister - Shall administer all necessaries to thee. I had mercy - As I afflicted thee in my anger, so out of my compassion I will abundantly bless thee.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 60:10-12. And the sons of the stranger —…
Isa 60:10-12. And the sons of the stranger — Namely, such as were not Israelites born, but of Gentile race; and he puts sons of strangers, by a usual Hebraism, for strangers; shall build up thy walls — As Gentile proselytes to the Jewish religion assisted the Jews in repairing the walls of Jerusalem upon their return from captivity, so Gentile converts to Christianity assisted the apostles, evangelists, and other ministers of Christ, who were of Jewish extraction, in building and adorning the Christian Church: and for many ages its builders have been almost wholly of Gentile race. And their kings shall minister unto thee — Ecclesiastical history affords us many instances of kings and princes that were great benefactors to her, among whom Constantine greatly excelled. For in my wrath I smote thee, &c. — As I afflicted thee in mine anger, so out of my compassions I will abundantly bless thee. “The discourse here,” says Vitringa, “rises, and will continue to rise till the end of the section, that the blindest may discern spiritual things involved in these corporeal figures and emblems. It is not sufficient that the nations only, with their wealth and possessions, shall be added to the church, and perform all requisite offices toward it, but kings and princes also shall come: nor shall they come alone; a great retinue shall attend them: nor shall instances of their approach be few and rare, but common and frequent; insomuch that the gates of the city shall be always left open to receive this continual accession of kings and people.” The nation, &c., that will not serve thee — Do offices of kindness to thee, as the word ועבדוis used Isa 19:23, or, that will not submit to Christ’s sceptre; shall perish — Shall not only be subdued to thee, but shall be destroyed by the sword, or famine, or pestilence, or some other of the divine judgments. Yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted — Shall, by the peculiar interposition of a righteous providence, be brought to desolation. “This,” says Lowth, “must relate to the latter days, as the Scripture calls them, when the church shall become a great mountain, and break in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, according to Daniel’s prophecy, Dan 2:35; Dan 2:44.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And the sons of strangers - They who have…
And the sons of strangers - They who have been devoted to a foreign and a false religion shall become devoted to the true religion, and engage in the service of the true God.
Shall build up thy walls - Jerusalem is represented as a ruined city. Her walls had been thrown down, and were lying prostrate. In restoring her to her former magnificence, strangers and foreigners would lend their cheerful aid. The idea is, that they would become tributary to the church, and esteem it a privilege to be engaged in any service, however laborious, that would promote its best interests.
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And their kings - (See the notes at Isa 49:23).
For in my wrath I smote thee - Referring to the calamities which he had, from time to time, brought on Jerusalem (see Isa 57:17).
But in my favor - (See the notes at Isa 54:8).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain To thee. The Persians monarchs (Calmet) were mostly favourable…
To thee. The Persians monarchs (Calmet) were mostly favourable to the Jews. (Haydock) --- The Gentiles help to form the Church, which rejects no one, ver. 11.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain kings . . . minister unto thee--(See on Isa…
kings . . . minister unto thee--(See on Isa 60:7; Isa 49:23).
in my wrath I smote thee-- (Isa 54:7-8; Isa 57:17).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Strangers — Foreigners of false religions converted to…
10. Strangers — Foreigners of false religions converted to the true religion. In…
wrath I smote thee — This refers to the morale of wasted Jerusalem, and their captivity at Babylon.
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Their kings — Perhaps including Cyrus, Darius, etc., of Persia; likewise the later Christian kings.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. the sons of strangers] strangers (R.V.), as in…
10. the sons of strangers] strangers (R.V.), as in ch. Isa_56:3; although the reference here is not to individual proselytes, but to foreigners in general. It is not even certain that the verse implies a willing cooperation of heathen converted to the religion of Israel, although this is to be presumed. In either case the rebuilding of the walls by the heathen who had destroyed them is the sign of the complete removal of the divine anger against Israel.
for in my wrath &c.] Cf. ch. Isa_54:7-8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) The sons of strangers shall build . .…
(10) The sons of strangers shall build . . .—Either as willing proselytes or as being brought into subjection. (Comp. Zec_6:15.) To build the temples or palaces of conquerors was, as in the case of the Egyptian and Babylonian bondage, the almost inevitable lot of the conquered.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 10-14. The third stanza. Zion"s reconstruction.
Vers. 10-14. The third stanza. Zion"s reconstruction.
The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls. Cyrus aided in the supply of timber for the construction of the second temple. (Ezr_3:7) Artaxerxes Longimanus sanctioned the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. (Neh_1:3 Neh_2:5-8) The passage has, however, a meaning beyond the literal one. "Strangers" of all kinds, Greeks, and Romans, and Syrians, and Africans, and Cauls, and Spaniards, and others, assisted in building and enlarging the walls of the Church as it spread over the world, set up its bulwarks in the Creeds, and fenced it round about with various decrees and canons. Their kings shall minister unto thee (see the comment on ver. 3). Among ministrant kings may be mentioned Cyrus, Darius the son of Hystaspes, Artaxerxes Longimanus, Alexander the Great, Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne, St. Louis, etc. I had mercy on thee. A preterit of prophetic certitude. Mr. Cheyne translates, "I will have compassion upon thee."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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they will not be shut day or night
Here "day" and "night" together mean "all the time." This can be stated in active form. AT: "no one will ever shut them" (See: Active or Passive and Merism)
so that the wealth of the nations may be brought, with their kings being led
This can be stated in active form. AT: "so that the people of the nations may bring their wealth, along with their kings" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
son
alien
king
servant
wrath
punish
favor
compassion
gate
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 60:10-16 Those who previously oppressed the people of God…
60:10-16 Those who previously oppressed the people of God will one day participate in restoring the holy city (see 2:2-4; 19:18-25; Neh 2:8; Amos 9:12).
60:10 their kings will serve you: God’s people who were previously humiliated (2:11) will be exalted.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.