Isaiah 62: Hephzibah and Beulah

"For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD" (62:1–3).

"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. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee" (vv. 4–5).

"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth" (vv. 6–7). "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway… Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh… And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken" (vv. 10–12).

Renaming and marriage

Ancient kings renamed cities they rebuilt or captured, and renamed vassal kings (2 Kings 23:34; 24:17). Here God gives the new name. The marriage image follows chapter 54 ("thy Maker is thine husband") and reverses the abandoned wife of 49:14 and 50:1. Hephzibah and Beulah entered English hymnody ("Beulah Land," 1876) and Puritan naming, through the KJV's transliteration.

God as husband: what the metaphor does and does not say

Prophetic books often picture God as husband and the city or people as wife (Hosea 1–3; Jeremiah 2–3; Ezekiel 16; 23; Isaiah 50:1; 54:5–6; 62:4–5). In some texts the image is used to shame the wife for infidelity; here it is entirely positive: delight, reunion, a wedding. Readers should still note the limits of the metaphor. It is a figure for covenant loyalty, drawn from an ancient marriage in which the husband held authority; the God of Israel is not given a gender or a consort, and in the same chapters God is also pictured as a mother (49:15; 66:13). The site presents both images as metaphors (ISA-C9).

Pairing with chapter 54

Chapter 54 promised the barren, forsaken wife a return of her husband and children; chapter 62 gives her new names and a wedding. Chapters 60–62 are often read as the center of 56–66, framed by the more troubled chapters 56–59 and 63–66.