Isaiah 4:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.

NIV: In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.

NASB: On that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the beauty of the survivors of Israel.

CSB: On that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.

NLT: But in that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious; the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of all who survive in Israel.

KJV: In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

NKJV: In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped.

Isaiah is concluding a section that began in Isaiah 2:1–4. In those verses he looked far into Israel's future and pointed to a time when people from all the nations of the earth would come to the mountain of the Lord to learn from the God of Jacob. He was looking toward Christ's reign as king over all the earth.

He turned then to describe the time he lived in and what was coming for Israel (Isaiah 2:12–19). God would soon judge His people for their failure to trust in Him alone. This was demonstrated in their worship of false gods and mistreatment of the poor (Isaiah 2:8,3:13–15). He would take away everything they once held dear instead of trusting in Him (Isaiah 3:1–3, 18–24). This judgment would end with the destruction of Jerusalem by foreign invaders who decimated the city, leaving only a small remnant behind (Isaiah 3:25–26). The aftermath for those survivors would be brutal.

Now, Isaiah is going back to describing that far-off time in Israel's future when the Messiah will reign over the earth from Jerusalem. Isaiah begins Isaiah 4:2 by saying "in that day," likely referring to the same "latter days" from Isaiah 2:2 following another time of judgment and hardship for Israel.

Most scholars, but not all, agree that the branch of the Lord is a reference to the Messiah. Isaiah will have recurring references to the Messiah throughout his text. This Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ the Lord, the Son of God and true hope of Israel, who referred to Himself as the Vine (John 15:1). He is the "branch of the Lord," sprung up from the root of the line of King David, the "root of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1, 10). But the branch is also the fruit of the land of Israel, it's final and most important product and export.

The Messiah and this "fruit of the land" will be the esteem of the survivors of Israel. This is the remnant of survivors Isaiah described in Isaiah 1:9, and it also may represent the remnant of Israelites who come to trust in Jesus, as described by Paul in Romans 9.

Isaiah 4:2–6 finds Isaiah returning to depict the end-times version of Israel he began to describe in Isaiah 2:1–5. The "branch of the Lord" will reign over the survivors of Israel and the world. Those Israelites left in Zion will be called a holy people with their names recorded for life. By then, the Lord will have purged their sin and the bloodstains of Jerusalem . A cloud by day and fire by night will serve to protect Israel from any harm the natural world can produce.

After concluding his words about the desperate situation following the Lord's judgment for the formerly wealthy women of Judah, Isaiah returns to picturing a time in Israel's distant future: when the branch of the Lord, the Messiah, will reside in the land as the pride of Israel's survivors. Unlike now, Israel will be a holy people cleansed of all sin and the bloodstains of Jerusalem. This will be done by a "spirit of judgment and burning", perhaps endured by the Messiah on the cross. Then a cloud by day and fire by night will rest over the glory of the Lord on Mount Zion.

Isaiah 4 begins with a phrase which is meant to end the previous chapter. Isaiah describes the desperate situation for the formerly arrogant and rich women of Judah. Isaiah then describes the time in Israel's far future when the fruit of the land, the Messiah, is among them. Then the people will have been made holy by the Lord, cleansed of their filth by a "spirit of judgment and burning". Cloud and fire will hang over the glory of the Lord at Mount Zion. Later chapters will give more details about this future time.

Isaiah is among the most important prophetic books in the entire Bible. The first segment details God's impending judgment against ancient peoples for sin and idolatry (Isaiah 1—35). The second part of Isaiah briefly explains a failed assault on Jerusalem during the rule of Hezekiah (Isaiah 36—39). The final chapters predict Israel's rescue from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 40—48), the promised Messiah (Isaiah 49—57), and the final glory of Jerusalem and God's people (Isaiah 58—66).