Lectionary Calendar
Friday, November 29th, 2024
the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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New Living Translation

Isaiah 54:12

I will make your towers of sparkling rubies, your gates of shining gems, and your walls of precious stones.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Agate;   Carbuncle;   Church;   Righteous;   Stones;   Thompson Chain Reference - Agate;   Precious Stones;   Stones, Precious;   The Topic Concordance - Enemies;   Fear;   Oppression;   Peace;   Prosperity;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Precious Stones;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Carbuncle;   Ruby;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Faithfulness of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Agate;   Carbuncle;   Gate;   Stones, Precious;   Window;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Agate;   Carbuncle;   Gate;   High Priest;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Agate;   Carbuncle;   Isaiah;   Jewels, Jewelry;   Minerals and Metals;   Pinnacle;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Fortification and Siegecraft;   Jewels and Precious Stones;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Building;   Door ;   Gate (2);   Precious Stones ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Agate;   Carbuncle;   Window;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Carbuncle;   Handicraft;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Agate,;   Carbuncle;   Stones, Precious;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Ate;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Carbuncle;   Sapphire;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Architecture;   Fortification;   Gate;   House;   Stones, Precious:;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Agate;   Fortress;   Gabriel;   Gems;   Revelation (Book of);   Walls;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
The stones on top of the wall will be made from rubies. I will use shiny jewels for the gates. I will use precious stones to build the walls around you.
Update Bible Version
And I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your border of precious stones.
New Century Version
I will use rubies to build your walls and shining jewels for the gates and precious jewels for all your outer walls.
New English Translation
I will make your pinnacles out of gems, your gates out of beryl, and your outer wall out of beautiful stones.
Webster's Bible Translation
And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
World English Bible
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of emeralds, and all your border of precious stones.
Amplified Bible
"And I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of [shining] beryl stones, And all your [barrier] walls of precious stones.
English Standard Version
I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and Y schal sette iaspis thi touris, and thi yatis in to grauun stoonys, and alle thin eendis in to desirable stoonys.
English Revised Version
And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy border of pleasant stones.
Berean Standard Bible
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
Contemporary English Version
Your fortresses will be built of rubies, your gates of jewels, and your walls of gems.
American Standard Version
And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy border of precious stones.
Bible in Basic English
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.
Complete Jewish Bible
make your windows shine with rubies, your gates with garnet, your walls with gemstones.
Darby Translation
and I will make thy battlements of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of precious stones.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy border of precious stones.
King James Version (1611)
And I will make thy windowes of Agates, and thy gates of Carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
New Life Bible
I will make your towers of bright red stones. Your gates will be made of shining stones, and all your walls will be made of stones of great worth.
New Revised Standard
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of jewels, and all your wall of precious stones.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And I will make thy windowes of emeraudes, and thy gates shining stones, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
George Lamsa Translation
And I will make your walls of jasper and your gates of crystal and your borders of precious stones.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And make rubies, thy battlements, And thy gates, sparkling stones, -
Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones.
Revised Standard Version
I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thy windowes of Christal, thy gates of fine cleare stone, and all thy borders of pleasaunt stones.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and I will make thy buttresses jasper, and thy gates crystal, and thy border precious stones.
Good News Translation
I will build your towers with rubies, your gates with stones that glow like fire, and the wall around you with jewels.
Christian Standard Bible®
I will make your fortifications out of rubies,your gates out of sparkling stones,and all your walls out of precious stones.
Hebrew Names Version
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of emeralds, and all your border of precious stones.
King James Version
And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
Lexham English Bible
And I will make your battlements of ruby, and your gates of stones of beryl, and all your wall of precious stones.
Literal Translation
And I will make your battlements of ruby, and your gates carbuncle stones, and all your borders pleasing stones;
Young's Literal Translation
And have made of agate thy pinnacles, And thy gates of carbuncle stones, And all thy border of stones of delight,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
thy wyndowes off Cristall, thi gates of fyne cleare stone, & yi borders of pleasaut stones.
New American Standard Bible
"Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of crystal, And your entire wall of precious stones.
New King James Version
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of crystal, And your entire wall of precious stones.
Legacy Standard Bible
Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies,And your gates of crystal,And your entire wall of precious stones.

Contextual Overview

11 "O storm-battered city, troubled and desolate! I will rebuild you with precious jewels and make your foundations from lapis lazuli. 12 I will make your towers of sparkling rubies, your gates of shining gems, and your walls of precious stones. 13 I will teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace. 14 You will be secure under a government that is just and fair. Your enemies will stay far away. You will live in peace, and terror will not come near. 15 If any nation comes to fight you, it is not because I sent them. Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat. 16 "I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals beneath the forge and makes the weapons of destruction. And I have created the armies that destroy. 17 But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord ; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord , have spoken!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Exodus 28:17 - a carbuncle Exodus 28:19 - an agate 1 Kings 6:30 - General 1 Kings 7:4 - windows 1 Chronicles 29:2 - onyx stones 2 Chronicles 3:6 - precious Isaiah 44:26 - that saith Isaiah 49:16 - thy walls Ezekiel 28:13 - every Ezekiel 48:31 - General Revelation 21:12 - twelve gates Revelation 21:19 - the foundations

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I will make thy windows of agates,.... Some sort of which stones, Pliny x says, were valued for their clearness like glass; but the stone which bears this name with us is not clear and lucid enough to make windows of. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "of jasper", a stone more fit for that purpose; and it is interpreted of the jasper in the Talmud y; so "the light" of the New Jerusalem is said to be like unto the "jasper stone",

Revelation 21:11. Some take the crystal to be meant, which suits well with windows; the word z for which has its name from the sun, because by means of them the rays and light of the sun are let into a house, and illuminate it; these in a figurative sense may design the ministers of the Gospel, who are the lights of the world, especially of the church; and the word and ordinances administered by them, by means of which the light of spiritual knowledge, joy, and comfort, is let into the churches, and into the souls of men, from Christ, the sun of righteousness. The phrase signifies, that in the latter day their ministrations should be very clear and bright, and be greatly owned, and be very successful: "and thy gates of carbuncles"; precious stones so called from their fiery flaming colour. The gates of the New Jerusalem are said to be so many pearls, Revelation 21:21 which there, as here, signify the entrance into the church of God, which is through Christ, who is the door into it, and through faith in him, which works by love; these gates will be open in the latter day to receive many, who will come in great numbers, and are called "praise",

Isaiah 60:11, which will be expressed in very warm and lively strains of love and affection, of which the carbuncle may be a symbol:

and all thy borders of pleasant stones; true believers, called "lively stones", and who are pleasant in the sight of God and Christ, and are taken pleasure in by one another; see Psalms 102:14. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "thy wall", which agree with Revelation 21:18, where the wall of the New Jerusalem is said to be of jasper.

x Nat. Hist l. 37. c. 10. y T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 75. 1. z שמשותיך "a radice, quae solem significat", Sanctius,

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And I will make thy windows - The word rendered here ‘windows’ is rendered by Jerome propugnacula - ‘fortresses,’ bulwarks, ramparts; and by the Septuagint, Επαλξεις Epalcheis - ‘Bulwarks,’ or rather, pinnacles on the walls. The Hebrew word שׁמשׁות shı̂mâshôt) is evidently derived from שׁמשׁ shemesh (the sun); and has some relation in signification to the sun, either as letting in light, or as having a radiated appearance like the sun. Gesenius renders it, ‘notched battlements, the same as sun, or rays of the sun.’ Faber (Hebrew Archaeol., p. 294) supposes that the name was given to the turrets or battlements here referred to, because they had some resemblance to the rays of the sun. I think it prob able that the prophet refers to some radiated ornament about a building, that had a resemblance to the sun, or to some gilded turrets on the walls of a city. I see no evidence in the ancient versions that the word refers to windows.

Of agates - Agates are a class of silicious, semi-pellucid gems, of many varieties, consisting of quarts-crystal flint, horn-stone, chalcedony, amethyst, jasper, cornelian, etc., variegated with dots, zones, filaments, ramifications, and various figures. They are esteemed the least valuable of all the precious stones. They are found in rocks, and are use, for seals, rings, etc. (Webster.) The Hebrew word כדכד kadekkod, from כדד kâdad, to beat, to pound, and then to strike fire, seems to denote a sparkling gem or ruby. It is not often used. It is rendered by Jerome, Jaspidem. The Septuagint, Ιασπιν Iaspin - ‘Jasper,’ a gem of a green color. It may be observed that it is not probable that such a stone would be used for a window, for the purpose of letting in light.

And thy gates - See Revelation 21:21 - ‘And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.’ The gates of the city would be made of most precious stones.

Of carbuncles - The carbuncle is a beautiful gem of a deep red color, with a mixture of scarlet, called by the Greeks anthrax, found in the East Indies. It is usually about a quarter of an inch in length. When held up to the sun it loses its deep tinge, and becomes exactly the color of a burning coal (Webster). Hence, its name in Greek. The Hebrew name אקדח 'eqeddâch is derived from קדח qâdach, “to burn,” and denotes a flaming or sparkling gem. The word occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

And all thy borders - All thy boundaries; or the whole circuit of thy walls. See Revelation 21:18 - ‘And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.’ The idea is, that the whole city would be built in the most splendid manner. Its foundations and all its stones would be laid in the most precious cement; its turrets, towers, battlements, gates, and the circuit of its walls, would be made of the most precious gems. In general, there can be no doubt that this is designed to represent the future glory of the church under the Redeemer, and perhaps also to furnish an emblematic representation of heaven (compare Revelation 21:2). Kimchi supposes that this may possibly be taken literally, and that Jerusalem may be yet such as is here described. Abarbanel supposes that it may refer to the time when the Oriental world, where these gems are principally found, shall be converted, and come and join in rebuilding the city and the temple.

But the whole description is one of great beauty as applicable to the church of God; to its glories on earth; and to its glory in heaven. Its future magnificence shall be as much greater than anything which has yet occurred in the history of the church, as a city built of gems would be more magnificent than Jerusalem was in the proudest days of its glory. The language used in this verse is in accordance with the Oriental manner. The style of speaking in the East to denote unexampled splendor is well illustrated in the well-known Oriental tale of Aladdin, who thus gives his instructions: ‘I leave the choice of materials to you, that is to say, porphyry, jasper, agate, lapis lazuli, and the finest marble of the most varied colors. But I expect that in the highest story of the palace, you shall build me a large hall with a dome, and four equal fronts; and that instead of layers of bricks, the walls be made of massy gold and silver, laid alternately: and that each front shall contain six windows, the lattices of all which, except one, which must be left unfinished and imperfect, shall be so enriched with art and symmetry, with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, that they shall exceed everything of the kind ever seen in the world’ (Pictorial Bible).


 
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