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Christmas Season · Nativity of the Lord - Christmas Vigil · Year A

Isaiah 62:1-5

Zion Given a New Name

December 24, 2025

The Jewish Bride, Rembrandt van Rijn
The Jewish Bride, Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1665–1669Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Nobody knows who they are or what the title means; it was attached two centuries later. Van Gogh said he would give ten years of his life to sit in front of it for a fortnight.These readings use marriage for what God is doing, and this is the most convincing painting of tenderness between two people in European art.Rembrandt van RijnRembrandt (1606-1669) painted scripture as if it had happened in a room he had been in, and returned to the same stories across forty years, changing his mind about them in public.Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamThe Netherlands' national museum, built around the Dutch Golden Age and reopened in 2013 after a ten-year rebuilding.Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Roman Lectionary
GospelMatt. 1:1-25Mt 1:1-25 orMatt. 1:18-25Mt 1:18-25
Second ReadingActs 13:16-17, 22-25
First ReadingIsa. 62:1-5Is 62:1-5
Responsorial PsalmPs. 89:4-5, 16-17, 27+29 (2a)Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27+29 (2a)

Overview & Insights

“as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5)

Third Isaiah addresses a community back in the land whose restoration has lagged far behind the promises of chapters 40 to 55, and this oracle works by renaming. Azubah, “Forsaken”, and Shemamah, “Desolate”, give way to Hephzibah, “My delight is in her”, and Beulah, “Married” (v. 4), names that undo the divorce document of 50:1 and the abandoned wife of 54:6-7. Renaming as vocation is an Isaianic habit; compare the everlasting name of 56:5 and the new name of 65:15. The nuptial image of v. 5 makes Zion’s vindication a matter of God’s own honor, since a bridegroom’s joy is not detachable from his bride’s standing. The opening refusal to keep silent (v. 1) is left unattributed, read by some as the prophet’s vow and by others as God’s. On the vigil of the Nativity the passage supplies the language of espousal that the Gospel presently attaches to one betrothal in Nazareth.

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Commentary

Commentary on Isaiah 62:1-5Commentary on Is 62:1-5 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary reading of God ending the silence and rejoicing over Zion like a bridegroom.

Isaiah 62:1-5 CommentaryIs 62:1-5 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on the marriage imagery and the vindication of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 62 Commentary: A Glorious Future for ZionIs 62 Commentary: A Glorious Future for Zion Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse by verse notes on Zion's new name and God's delight in her.

Isaiah 62:1 CommentariesIs 62:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Classic commentators compiled on God's refusal to keep silent for Zion's sake.

The Christmas Vigil Mass (Cycles ABC) Agape Bible Study

Catholic study of Isaiah 62 titled The Splendor of God's Bride, read as the vigil's first reading.

Background & Word Study

Isaiah 62:1 InterlinearIs 62:1 Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew text of the Zion oracle word by word with parsing and Strong's numbers.

Isaiah 62 | Sefaria LibraryIs 62 | Sefaria Library Sefaria

Hebrew and English text of Isaiah 62 with classical Jewish commentaries.

The Church Fathers

Isaiah 62 - Catena Bible & CommentariesIs 62 - Catena Bible & Commentaries Catena

Patristic comments on Zion's glory, read as the Church and the incarnation.

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