In Isaiah 55:13, what is the referent of "it shall be to the LORD for a name"?

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Consider the following passage:

Isaiah 55:13 KJV Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

I am reading the pronoun in the emphasized clause to refer to either “my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth” (v. 11), so that the passage would indicate that the word that comes forth shall be to Yahweh for a name (of calling), or otherwise that the pronoun “the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (v. 12) and so the passage would indicate that these miraculous signs shall be a name (of character or renown).

Is either one of these a more reliable reading? Am I missing “it” altogether?

4 Comments

  • Varnel Watson
    Reply July 15, 2017

    Varnel Watson

    This is a good one too Dan Irving

  • Dan Irving
    Reply July 15, 2017

    Dan Irving

    I believe the context is established in v.11 as “So shall MY WORD be which goeth forth out of my mouth.” The subject is the Witness of the Word (I Jn 5:7) God expressed Himself, from Heaven, in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This expression is His spiritual witness, which is the active agency of God to minister to the “eater” out of His own spiritual being.

  • Dan Irving
    Reply July 15, 2017

    Dan Irving

    Jesus is not just an historical figure. Even today, he constitutes the “Living Bread from Heaven,” God may minister to the needy soul.

  • Street Preacherz
    Reply July 15, 2017

    Street Preacherz

    It seems that glory should be given to God for fulfilling his promise to restore the land of Israel. That his faithfulness and power is known in regards to his relationship with a covenant people. The seed of Abraham.
    And who can but mention that bald scab of ground called Golgotha where the spotless Lamb of God bleed and died. There He was, hanging, a curse, despised and rejected of men, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” There may never have been a darker sky. Or a more faithful prayer. “…Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
    He is the restoration of the paths of Peace and the repairer of the breach. Jesus of Nazareth.

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