Bible Strands
Isaiah 54:11
“O afflicted city, lashed by storms, without solace, surely I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses Jerusalem directly, in the moment between declaring that His covenant of peace will not be broken (v. 10) and describing the full glory of her rebuilt walls (v. 12).
The words — מַרְבִּיץ (mar.Bitz), "about to set," is an emphatic Hiphil form that marks the action as imminent and deliberate, not hypothetical. The address עֲנִיָּה ('a.ni.Yah), "afflicted one," is a feminine singular noun that identifies the city by her present condition before any promise is fulfilled.
The thread — Jeremiah 30:17 makes the same move: God restoring a city the world has called "outcast," Zion. 1 Peter 2:4 inherits the stone-and-building language, applying it to Christ as the living stone chosen and precious in God's sight.
Why it lands — The verse refuses to skip the affliction; it names the storm and the absence of comfort before naming the sapphires. It asks the reader to accept that restoration is specific and material, not merely abstract.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 2:4 As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,
- Jeremiah 30:17 But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.”
- Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
- Isaiah 54:6 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.
- 1 Chronicles 29:2 Now with all my ability I have made provision for the house of my God—gold for the gold articles, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and slabs of marble—all in abundance.
- Psalms 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Revelation 21:18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself of pure gold, as pure as glass.
- Isaiah 14:32 What answer will be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, where His afflicted people will find refuge.”
- Isaiah 28:16 So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.