Isaiah 54:1
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.
Isaiah 54:1 in other translations
| BSB | “Shout for joy, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth in song and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD. |
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| WEB | “Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth! Break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says the LORD. |
| ASV | Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah. |
| YLT | Sing, O barren, she hath not borne! Break forth with singing, and cry aloud, She hath not brought forth! For more are the sons of the desolate, Than the sons of the married one, said Jehovah. |
| DARBY | Exult, thou barren, that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and shout for joy, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah. |
| BBE | Let your voice be loud in song, O woman without children; make melody and sounds of joy, you who did not give birth: for the children of her who had no husband are more than those of the married wife, says the Lord. |
| Webster | Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. |
What does Isaiah 54:1 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Is 54:1-17. The Fruit of Messiah's Sufferings, and of Israel's Final Penitence at Her Past Unbelief (Is 53:6): Her Joyful Restoration and Enlargement by Jehovah, Whose Wrath Was Momentary, but His Kindness Everlasting.
Israel converted is compared to a wife (Is 54:5; Is 62:5) put away for unfaithfulness, but now forgiven and taken home again. The converted Gentiles are represented as a new progeny of the long-forsaken but now restored wife. The pre-eminence of the Hebrew Church as the mother Church of Christendom is the leading idea; the conversion of the Gentiles is mentioned only as part of her felicity [Horsley]. 1. Sing--for joy (Zep 3:14). barren--the Jewish Church once forsaken by God, and therefore during that time destitute of spiritual children (Is 54:6). didst not bear--during the Babylonian exile primarily. Secondarily, and chiefly, during Israel's present dispersion. the children--the Gentiles adopted by special grace into the original Church (Is 54:3; Is 49:20, 21). than ... married wife--than were her spiritual children, when Israel was still a married wife (under the law, before the Babylonian exile), before God put her away [Maurer]. So Paul contrasts the universal Church of the New Testament with the Church of the Old Testament legal dispensation, quoting this very passage (Ga 4:27). But the full accomplishment of it is yet future.Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Introduction
Some suppose this chapter to have been addressed to the Gentiles; some, to the Jewish Church; and some, to the Christian, in its first stage. On comparing the different parts of it, particularly the seventh and eighth verses, with the remainder, the most obvious import of the prophecy will be that which refers it to the future conversion of the Jews, and to the increase and prosperity of that nation, when reconciled to God after their long rejection, when their glory and security will far surpass what they were formerly in their most favored state, vv. 1-17. Verse 1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear "Shout for joy, O thou barren, that didst not bear" - The Church of God under the Old Testament, confined within the narrow bounds of the Jewish nation, and still more so in respect of the very small number of true believers, and which sometimes seemed to be deserted of God her husband, is the barren woman, that did not bear, and was desolate. She is exhorted to rejoice, and to express her joy in the strongest manner, on the reconciliation of her husband, (see Isa 54:6), and on the accession of the Gentiles to her family. The converted Gentiles are all along considered by the prophet as a new accession of adopted children, admitted into the original Church of God, and united with it. See Isa 49:20, Isa 49:21.Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 54:1-5
Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain
Isaiah 54:1 in the original Hebrew
Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.
Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for Isaiah 54:1
- Galatians 4:27
For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
- Isaiah 62:4
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi–bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
- 1 Samuel 2:5
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
- Hebrews 11:11-12
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
- Psalms 113:9
He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.
- Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
- Isaiah 49:13
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
- Zephaniah 3:14
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
- Psalms 98:3-9
He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. …
- Psalms 67:3-5
Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
- Isaiah 49:20
The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
- Isaiah 42:10-11
Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4 their safety;
6 their certain deliverance out of affliction;
11 their fair edification;
15 and their sure preservation.
O barren.
62:4; So 8:8; Ga 4:27
break.
42:10,11; 44:23; 49:13; 55:12,13; Ps 67:3-5; 98:3-9; Zep 3:14
Zec 9:9; Re 7:9,10
for more.
1Sa 2:5; Ps 113:9; Heb 11:11,12
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Isaiah 54:1
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.
- Isaiah 54:2
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Isaiah 54:1 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | ALÉGRATE, oh estéril, la que no paría; levanta canción, y da voces de júbilo, la que nunca estuvo de parto: porque más son los hijos de la dejada que los de la casada, ha dicho Jehová. |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | *Exulte, stérile, qui n’enfantais pas; éclate en chants de triomphe, et pousse des cris de joie, toi qui n’as pas été en travail! car les fils de la désolée sont plus nombreux que les fils de la femme mariée, dit l’ Éternel. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Juble, du Unfruchtbare, die nicht geboren, brich in Jubel aus und jauchze, die keine Wehen gehabt hat! denn der Kinder der Vereinsamten sind mehr als der Kinder der Vermählten, spricht Jehova. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Lauda, sterilis, quæ non paris; decanta laudem, et hinni, quæ non pariebas: quoniam multi filii desertæ magis quam ejus quæ habet virum, dicit Dominus. |