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Isaiah 62 · a question people ask

"so your sons will marry you" (62:5). What does that mean?

In the text

The verse says it as one side of a comparison: "For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you" (62:5). A second comparison follows in the same verse: "As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you" (62:5). The you is the one the chapter names, Zion and Jerusalem (62:1, 62:6), and the verse before says, "your land will be married" (62:4). In Hebrew marries, marry and married in 62:4-5 are all forms of one verb, ba'al (tap married). The verse doesn't explain your sons further, and these notes don't; they apply nothing in 62:4-5 to any marriage today.

The verses

“You will not be called Forsaken any more, nor will your land be called Desolate any more; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD delights in you, and your land will be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.”
Isaiah 62:4-5 · World English Bible
“For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.”
Isaiah 62:1 · World English Bible
“I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on the LORD, take no rest,”
Isaiah 62:6 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 62

Isaiah 62: Called by a new name

Those who call on the LORD are told to take no rest and to give him no rest, with one Hebrew word both times (62:6-7). Beulah (62:4) is the same Hebrew form as "the married wife" (Isaiah 54:1), and 62:11's "his reward is with him, and his recompense before him" is 40:10's line, word for word.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions