Bible Strands
Isaiah 60:12
For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly destroyed.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses restored Jerusalem, describing its future exaltation as nations bring their wealth to its perpetually open gates. The declaration follows a vision of the city's gates standing day and night to receive tribute from surrounding kingdoms.
The words — The Hebrew יֹאבֵ֑דוּ (yo.Ve.du) translates literally to "they will perish," directly linked to the conditional clause לֹא־יַעַבְד֖וּךְ (lo'- ya.'av.Du/kh), meaning "they will not serve you." These terms establish the irreversible consequence for refusing submission to the exalted city.
The thread — This judgment motif recurs in Isaiah 54:15, where attackers fall before God's people, and Zechariah 14:12, which details a plague against nations warring against Jerusalem. Psalm 2:12 reinforces the pattern by warning that rebellion against the anointed King brings sudden perishing.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of Jerusalem's divinely appointed authority and the inevitable collapse of any power that refuses to submit to it. Readers must recognize that political or spiritual resistance to God's established order results in irreversible destruction.
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
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 54:15 If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever assails you will fall before you.
- Zechariah 14:12 And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
- Psalms 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in your rebellion, when His wrath ignites in an instant. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.
- Isaiah 14:2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
- Isaiah 41:11 Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.
- Daniel 2:44 In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.
- Daniel 2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
- Zechariah 12:2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. Judah will be besieged, as well as Jerusalem.
- Matthew 21:44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
- Luke 19:27 And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”