“And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 60:10 Mean?
Isaiah delivers a prophecy layered with irony: the foreigners who once attacked Jerusalem will now build her walls. The sons of strangers — b'nei nekhar, those from outside the covenant — will do the construction. Their kings will serve her. The nations that oppressed Israel will be repurposed as instruments of her restoration. The oppressor becomes the builder.
The theological backbone of the verse sits in its center: "for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee." Two divine actions. Two seasons. One God. The smiting was real — God doesn't distance Himself from the judgment. He owns it: I struck you. But the mercy is equally owned and equally real: I have had mercy. The wrath had a season. The favour has replaced it. Both came from the same hand.
The Hebrew b'qitspi (in my wrath) and birtoni (in my favour) are placed in deliberate contrast. The same God who struck in anger now restores in favour, and the restoration is so thorough that even the agents of destruction are conscripted into the rebuilding. Babylon broke Jerusalem. Cyrus of Persia sent the people home. Foreigners rebuilt the walls under Nehemiah. The pattern is historical and prophetic: God uses the same nations He used in judgment to serve His purposes in restoration.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Can you identify something that once broke you that God has since repurposed for your rebuilding?
- 2.How do you hold together the truth that God both struck and had mercy — without dismissing either one?
- 3.Is there a 'son of strangers' in your life — someone who harmed you but whose actions ultimately served God's restoration plan?
- 4.If God's favour has replaced His wrath in your life, are you living in the favour or still flinching from the wrath?
Devotional
The people who broke you will build for you. That's the audacious promise of this verse. Not that the harm didn't happen. Not that the wrath wasn't real. God says plainly: I struck you. But He also says: now, in my favour, the very forces that tore you down will be repurposed for your rebuilding. The enemy's hands that destroyed will be the hands that construct.
You've seen fragments of this. The painful experience that later became the foundation of your ministry. The devastating season that produced the empathy you now offer others. The person who hurt you whose actions — unintentionally, unknowingly — pushed you into the path you were always supposed to be on. God doesn't waste the destruction. He repurposes it. The strangers' sons build the walls.
The hinge of the verse is the shift from wrath to favour. God doesn't pretend the wrath didn't happen. He doesn't explain it away. He says: that was then. This is now. In my favour, I have had mercy. If you've been living under the shadow of a season where it felt like God struck you — discipline, consequence, loss that felt personal — this verse marks the pivot. The wrath had a beginning and it has an end. The favour that follows isn't tentative. It's comprehensive enough to conscript your destroyers into your restoration. Whatever broke you is about to be handed a hammer and told to rebuild.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls,.... The sons of the people; or Gentiles, as the Targum; who were…
And the sons of strangers - They who have been devoted to a foreign and a false religion shall become devoted to the…
The promises made to the church in the foregoing verses are here repeated, ratified, and enlarged upon, designed still…
the sons of strangers strangers (R.V.), as in ch. Isa 56:3; although the reference here is not to individual proselytes,…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture