Bible Strands
Isaiah 60:15
Whereas you have been forsaken and despised, with no one passing through, I will make you an everlasting pride, a joy from age to age.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Zion, announcing a direct reversal from her state of abandonment to a future of exaltation amid the submission of former oppressors and the provision of surrounding nations.
The words — The Hebrew תַּחַת (taḥat) translates literally as "in place of," while עֲזוּבָה ('azuvah) means "forsaken," structuring the verse as a divine substitution of desolation with honor.
The thread — This pattern of abandonment turning to restoration appears in Isaiah 49:14, Isaiah 61:7, and Jeremiah 30:17, where God replaces shame and rejection with healing and double portion.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively replaces human rejection with eternal pride, requiring the reader to acknowledge His covenant action rather than current circumstances.
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
Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 61:7 Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.
- 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.”
- Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”
- Isaiah 35:10 So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
- Jeremiah 33:11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD.
- Isaiah 4:2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
- Isaiah 6:12 until the LORD has driven men far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
- 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.
- Revelation 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”
- Isaiah 65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.