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Isaiah 60 Bible study: Arise, shine
Zion is told to shine because "your light has come, and the LORD’s glory has risen on you" (60:1). Near the end she hears, "the LORD will be your everlasting light" (60:19); everlasting light, or olam, stands in the Hebrew Bible only in 60:19-20.
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“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the LORD’s glory has risen on you!”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“Isaiah 60:1 tells Zion to shine because "your light has come".”
Is that in Isaiah 60, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Your light has come
In the WEB the whole chapter stands inside quotation marks, and the one who speaks says, "I, the LORD, am your Savior" (60:16) and "I, the LORD, will do this" (60:22). It opens with two commands: "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the LORD’s glory has risen on you!" (60:1) (tap light, risen). Then the dark: "For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you" (60:2) (tap glory). And then the nations: "Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (60:3). Here is what almost everyone misses: Zion is told to shine because her light has come. The light comes to her, and "the LORD’s glory has risen on you" (60:1); the LORD rises on her while darkness covers the earth (60:2). Chapter 9 also sets light against darkness: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2).
Where it leads to Jesus
No need of sun or moon
Isaiah 60:19leads toRevelation 21:23
Zion (Isaiah 60:14) is told, "The sun will be no more your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory" (Isaiah 60:19), and "Your sun will not go down any more, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light" (Isaiah 60:20). Revelation is "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1). In it John sees "a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain" (Revelation 5:6), and later he is shown "the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:10), of which he says, "The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb" (Revelation 21:23). Revelation doesn't name Isaiah, and no link between the Hebrew and Greek words is claimed, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some hear in Revelation 21:23 the sun and moon of Isaiah 60:19-20 no longer needed, with the glory of God and the Lamb as the city's light. Others read Isaiah 60:19-20 in its own chapter, of Zion, to whom the chapter speaks, and read Revelation 21 on its own. These notes pick neither reading, set out no plan of the last things, and apply the verses to no city or people today.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Isaiah 60
That was a taste
The rest of Isaiah 60 is waiting in Favor
- They come to you
- Walls called Salvation
- No more sun
- Gates never shut
- Names from Genesis 25
- 16 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
אוֹרorsay OR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "light". Strong's: "illumination or (concrete) luminary". "Arise, shine; for your light has come" (60:1). In Hebrew shine is ori, a form of the verb, and your light is orekh, a form of this noun; Strong's gives the noun as "from 215", the verb's number. Isaiah has the noun 27 times in Hebrew, and five of them are in this chapter, more than in any other chapter of the book: 60:1, 60:3, twice in 60:19, and 60:20. It is the word of "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), and of "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2), which the chapter on Isaiah 9 studies.
For your group
Isaiah 60 Bible study questions
- 1"Arise, shine; for your light has come" (60:1). Zion is told to shine because the light has come to her. How does that change the way you think about shining?
- 2"Whereas you have been forsaken and hated … I will make you an eternal excellency" (60:15). The one who speaks promises this to a city that has been forsaken and hated. What does that tell you about him?
- 3"the days of your mourning will end" (60:20). What does it mean to you that the chapter speaks of mourning coming to an end?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Isaiah 60 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home