Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 54 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 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.
1 “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 Yahweh.
2 Make wide the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your house be stretched out without limit: make your cords long, and your tent-pins strong.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.
3 For I will make wide your limits on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will take the nations for a heritage, and make the waste towns full of people.
3 For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your offspring will possess the nations and settle in desolate cities.
4 Have no fear; for you will not be shamed or without hope: you will not be put to shame, for the shame of your earlier days will go out of your memory, and you will no longer keep in mind the sorrows of your widowed years.
4 “Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your youth. You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth.
5 For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the whole earth.
6 For the Lord has made you come back to him, like a wife who has been sent away in grief of spirit; for one may not give up the wife of one's early days.
6 For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God.
7 For a short time I gave you up; but with great mercies I will take you back again.
7 “For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies.
8 In overflowing wrath my face was veiled from you for a minute, but I will have pity on you for ever, says the Lord who takes up your cause.
8 In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says Yahweh your Redeemer.
9 For this is like the days of Noah to me: for as I took an oath that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so have I taken an oath that I will not again be angry with you, or say bitter words to you.
9 “For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may be taken away, and the hills be moved out of their places, but my love will not be taken from you, or my agreement of peace broken, says the Lord, who has had mercy on you.
10 For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Yahweh who has mercy on you.
11 O troubled one, storm-crushed, uncomforted! see, your stones will be framed in fair colours, and your bases will be sapphires.
11 “You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your towers of rubies, and your doors of carbuncles, and the wall round you will be of all sorts of beautiful stones.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
13 And all your builders will be made wise by the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children.
13 All your children will be taught by Yahweh, and your children’s peace will be great.
14 All your rights will be made certain to you: have no fear of evil, and destruction will not come near you.
14 You will be established in righteousness. You will be far from oppression, for you will not be afraid, and far from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 See, they may be moved to war, but not by my authority: all those who come together to make an attack on you, will be broken against you.
15 Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
16 See, I have made the iron-worker, blowing on the burning coals, and making the instrument of war by his work; and I have made the waster for destruction.
16 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame, and forges a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy.
17 No instrument of war which is formed against you will be of any use; and every tongue which says evil against you will be judged false. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness comes from me, says the Lord.
17 No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
Cross references (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Galatians 4:27; Isaiah 62:4; 1 Samuel 2:5; Hebrews 11:11–12; Psalm 113:9
- 2 Isaiah 33:20; Isaiah 49:19–20; Jeremiah 10:20; Exodus 39:40; Exodus 35:18
- 3 Isaiah 43:5–6; Genesis 28:14; Isaiah 60:3–13; Isaiah 49:18–19; Ezekiel 36:35–36
- 4 Isaiah 41:10; 1 Peter 2:6; Isaiah 61:7; Jeremiah 31:19; Isaiah 45:16–17
- 5 Ephesians 5:25–27; Hosea 2:19–20; 2 Corinthians 11:2–3; Isaiah 48:17; Ezekiel 16:8
- 6 Isaiah 62:4; Hosea 2:14–15; Proverbs 5:18; Hosea 2:1–2; Ecclesiastes 9:9
- 7 Psalm 30:5; 2 Peter 3:8; Micah 4:6; Isaiah 26:20; Deuteronomy 30:3
- 8 Jeremiah 31:3; Isaiah 60:10; 1 Timothy 1:16; Ezekiel 39:23–24; Isaiah 54:10
- 9 Isaiah 12:1; Genesis 8:21; Genesis 9:11–16; Hebrews 6:16–18; Isaiah 55:11
- 10 Psalm 89:33–34; Psalm 46:2; Ephesians 2:4–5; Matthew 24:35; Romans 11:29
- 11 1 Peter 2:4–6; Acts 14:22; Jeremiah 30:17; Isaiah 54:6; 1 Chronicles 29:2
- 13 John 6:45; Philippians 4:7; Psalm 119:165; Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:10
- 14 Proverbs 3:25–26; Jeremiah 30:10; Zechariah 9:8; Ezekiel 36:27–28; Zechariah 2:4–5
- 15 Isaiah 41:11–16; Psalm 37:12–13; Zechariah 12:9; Zechariah 2:8; Isaiah 43:3–4
- 16 Proverbs 16:4; Exodus 9:16; Isaiah 46:11; Isaiah 10:5–6; Isaiah 10:15
- 17 Romans 8:28–39; Isaiah 54:15; John 10:28–30; Isaiah 50:8; Romans 8:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… than from the Jews and Samaritans, we will produce: it ran thus: "Rejoice, O barren, thou that dost not bear; break forth and shout, thou that dost not travail, because many more are the children of the desolate than of her that hath an husband." For all the Gentiles were "desolate" of the true God, serving the works of their …
… and I will lay thy ramparts with jasper, and thy gates with crystal, and thy wall with choice stones: and all thy children shall be taught of God, and great shall be the peace of thy children; and in righteousness shalt thou be built up." And yet again does he say the same thing: "Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, …
He says, "Rejoice, O barren, thou that barest not; break forth and cry, thou that didst not travail with child: for many more are the children of the desolate than of her that has an husband." But these must suffice; and some things in them ought to be expounded; yet I think those parts sufficient which are so plain that …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… ye nations." For that God known in Judah, is King of all the earth: now by all He is acknowledged, for that is fulfilled which Isaiah saith, "He is thy God who hath delivered thee, the God of the whole earth shall He be called." "Sing ye praises with understanding." He teacheth us and warneth us to sing praises with …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… are by a hidden Bridegroom....The Prophet addeth, "Enlarge the place of Thy tabernacle, and Thy courts fix thou: there is no cause for thee to spare, extend further thy cords, and strong stakes set thou again and again on the right and on the left." Upon the right keep good men, on the left keep evil men, until there come …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)