Isaiah 55:5 (DRB)

Passage

Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not: and the nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies of David.

Isaiah 55:4 Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and a master to the Gentiles.

Isaiah 55:5 Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not: and the nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near.

Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "glorified", "behold", "thou", "shalt", "call", "nation", "knewest", and "nations". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "glorified" and "behold", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Behold I have given him for a..." into verse 6's "Seek ye the Lord while he may...", so "glorified" and "behold" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "glorified" and "behold" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.