Isaiah 66:13 · Bible study
Isaiah 66:13 Commentary: A Mother’s Comfort from God
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore the tender maternal imagery in Isaiah 66:13. Study its context, Hebrew grammar, theological meaning, and pastoral application for those who mourn.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God promises to comfort his people with the tender, intimate care of a mother for her grown child.
- Key words: Comfort (נָחַם, Piel intensive); אִישׁ (man, not son); אֵם (mother).
- Main debate: Whether the comfort is for literal Israel in the post-exilic restoration or for the church as the spiritual Jerusalem.
- Theological theme: Divine compassion expressed through maternal imagery; the depth of God’s covenantal love.
- Best use: A pastoral text for those enduring grief, exile, or weariness, pointing to God’s personal, patient comfort.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you. You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”
KJV King James Version 1769
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
As one whom his mother comforteth, so do I comfort you, Yea, in Jerusalem ye are comforted.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Como aquel á quien consuela su madre, así os consolaré yo á vosotros, y en Jerusalem tomaréis consuelo.
Tal como alguém a quem sua mãe consola, assim também eu vos consolarei; e em Jerusalém sereis consolados.
Comme un homme que sa mère console,
Ich will euch trösten, wie einen seine Mutter tröstet; ja, ihr sollt an Jerusalem ergötzt werden.
Als een, dien zijn moeder troost, alzo zal Ik u troosten; ja, gij zult te Jeruzalem getroost worden.
Come un uomo cui sua madre consola, così io consolerò voi, e sarete consolati in Gerusalemme.
Jako ten, którego cieszy matka jego, tak Ja was cieszyć będę; a tak w Jeruzalemie uciechy miewać będziecie.
Как утешает кого-либо мать его, так утешу Я вас, и вы будете утешены в Иерусалиме.
母親 怎樣 安慰 兒子，我 就照樣 安慰你們；你們也必因（或譯：在）耶路撒冷 得安慰。
As to one who is comforted by his mother, so will I give you comfort: and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Isaiah 66:13
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse presents God as the sole source of comfort, using the most intimate and tender image available: a mother consoling her child. Gill emphasizes that although God is immense and holy, he condescends to comfort his people with a mother’s affection. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, citing G. A. Smith, pictures ‘the grown man coming back with wounds and weariness upon him to be comforted of his mother.’ Keil and Delitzsch note that the Hebrew uses אִישׁ (ish, ‘man’) rather than בֵּן (ben, ‘son’), deliberately portraying Israel as a mature person who has returned from exile to the maternal embrace of divine love in Jerusalem. All agree the comfort is concrete: it happens ‘in Jerusalem,’ pointing to the restoration of the community. Barnes connects the image to Isaiah 49:15. The verse assures believers that no sorrow is beyond the reach of God’s patient, personal comfort.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Direct divine comfort: Grammar and context – God himself speaks in first person, promising comfort to his people in the same way a mother would.
- Messianic comfort through the Word (Memra): The Targum identifies the comforter as the Word of God, seen by many as a reference to Christ.
- Symbolic of eschatological new creation: The placement of the verse in Isaiah 66, the final chapter of the book, points to the ultimate comfort of the new heavens and new earth (65:17, 66:22).
What is clear: God himself promises to comfort his people with a tenderness that surpasses normal human experience.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Gender imagery for God | God is spirit and not gendered, yet Scripture uses both masculine and feminine metaphors to describe his character. | Some traditions see masculine titles (Father, King) as primary and the feminine as rare; others hold that both are equally valid and necessary to understand God's full nature. |
| Literal vs. symbolic Jerusalem | Jerusalem is the place where God’s comfort is experienced. | Some interpret the city as the physical, restored Jerusalem after the exile, while others see it as the New Jerusalem, the community of believers in the age to come. |
| Agent of the comfort | God himself is the comforter; the comfort is divine in origin. | The Targum paraphrases ‘my Word’ (the Memra) as the comforter, linking it to Christ, while others hold that the Father is directly acting without specific christological reference. |
| Scope of comfort | The comfort is tender, personal, and aimed at those who grieve. | Does the promise include material and national restoration (the return from Babylon) or focus primarily on spiritual consolation and the new creation? |
Historical & Cultural Context
Isaiah 66 is the final chapter of the book, a grand conclusion that gathers the themes of judgment and restoration. The prophet addresses ‘those who tremble at his word’ (v. 5), the faithful remnant who mourned over Jerusalem’s sins and suffered alongside her. They are now called to rejoice with her (v. 10) because God’s peace will flow like a river (v. 12). The maternal imagery is not new: earlier Isaiah compared God’s compassion to a mother’s (49:15), and in verses 9, 12 Jerusalem herself is depicted as a mother nursing her children at ‘comforting breasts.’
In verse 13 the image shifts: God himself becomes the mother, comforting a grown son. The Hebrew root נָחַם (nacham) appears repeatedly in the chapter (vv. 10, 11, 13), carrying the sense of deep consolation, not mere sympathy. The Piel stem used here intensifies the action, God actively, powerfully comforts. The word אִישׁ (ish) is chosen over ‘son,’ as Keil and Delitzsch observe, to show that Israel is no longer a child but a man returning from bondage, carrying the weight of exile. This personal experience of comfort is located ‘in Jerusalem’, a specific, restored city that also prefigures the new creation (65:17, 18). The promise stands for every generation: God’s comfort is as personal and patient as a mother’s love.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Isaiah 66:13. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts, and the reading is not disputed.
Reception History
The Targum Jonathan rendered the verse as ‘My Word shall comfort you,’ seeing the Messiah as the agent of comfort. Early church fathers read it as a prophecy of the consolation brought by Christ. Reformation commentators such as Calvin emphasized God’s condescension in using such an intimate image. In modern times, the maternal metaphor has been highlighted by scholars as a corrective to one-sided masculine depictions of God. Throughout church history, this verse has brought consolation to believers in exile, bereavement, and times of persecution, and it continues to speak to those who long for a love that does not scold but holds.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Comfort from the Right Source. God himself is the comforter, not a mere human minister. Gill calls him ‘the sole efficient cause.’
- Comfort with Motherly Tenderness. The metaphor of a mother’s embrace captures the gentle, patient care that only the deepest love can give.
- Comfort in the Community of God. The comfort is given ‘in Jerusalem’, within the restored people of God, not in isolation.
Five-point outline
- God’s Condescension. The high and lofty One bends down to comfort dust and ashes (Gill).
- Intensity of the Image. A mother’s comfort is the touchstone; God’s comfort surpasses it.
- Maturity of the Recipient. Israel is a grown man, not an infant, the comfort meets adult grief and regret.
- Location of Restoration. Comfort happens in Jerusalem, a real place of physical and spiritual renewal.
- Response of Joy. The result is a heart that rejoices and bones that flourish (v. 14).
Illustration hooks
- A mother’s embrace when an adult child returns home after a painful divorce, no questions, just presence.
- The hush that falls over a hospital room when a mother arrives to sit with her suffering son.
- The sense of homecoming after a long journey, the place where you can finally stop pretending to be strong.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does this verse teach that God is mother as well as father?
- If God’s comfort is so certain, why do I still feel abandoned?
- What does it mean to be “comforted in Jerusalem” for Christians today?
Leading a Discussion
This Sunday, we encounter one of the Bible’s most tender images of God. Prepare by reading Isaiah 66:10, 14 aloud. Notice how the chapter moves from warning to the softest invitation. As you discuss, let the wonder of God’s maternal love reshape how you see him.
Discussion questions
- What kind of people does Isaiah address in verses 5 and 10? How does their situation shape the comfort they need?
- Why does the prophet choose the word “man” (ish) rather than “son” for the one comforted? What does that change about the image?
- How does this verse connect to Isaiah 40:1 (“Comfort, comfort my people”) and 49:15 (“Can a woman forget her nursing child”)?
- The comfort is located “in Jerusalem.” For the original audience, what did that promise mean? How do we apply it now?
- How does this maternal image of God challenge or expand your mental picture of God?
- II Corinthians 1:4 says God comforts us so we can comfort others. How could this verse shape how you comfort a friend in deep grief?
- What might it look like to receive God’s comfort today, not just mentally, but in a felt, embodied way?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Psalms 137:6 | Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you, if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy. |
| Isaiah 40:1 | “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. |
| Isaiah 51:3 | For Yahweh has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. |
| Isaiah 65:18 | But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy. |
| Isaiah 65:19 | I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more. |
| Isaiah 66:10 | “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her; |
| II Corinthians 1:4 | who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. |
| I Thessalonians 2:7 | But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes observes that the image of a mother offering comfort appears in this verse. Rather than expanding on it here, he directs readers to Isaiah 49:15, where the same comparison is developed more fully.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The Cambridge Bible highlights one especially vivid image for Jerusalem's restored prosperity: a grown man, wounded and weary from hardship, returns home to be comforted by his mother. This picture carries a tenderness that goes beyond a general promise of blessing.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note highlights God's promise to comfort His people with the same intimate tenderness a mother shows her child. This comfort is not distant or abstract but deeply personal, and it will be fulfilled in Jerusalem as the place of restoration and peace.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill stresses that God alone is the true source of comfort, and He gives it with the same tender, affectionate care a mother shows her distressed child. This comfort is most often experienced in the church, where God's presence and word bring reassurance, but it is not limited to that setting.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB connects the motherly comfort in this verse to Isaiah’s earlier comparison of God’s care to a nursing mother (Isa 49:15) and to the broader promise of divine comfort that opens the second half of the book (Isa 40:1-2). For him, this is a deliberate echo.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch emphasizes that the prophet deliberately writes “a man” instead of “a son” to picture Israel as a mature adult, not a child. The comfort is therefore for someone who has endured exile and sorrow, returning home to be consoled in Jerusalem like a grown son in his mother’s arms.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange stresses that rejoicing with Jerusalem is not just a response to her blessing but the very condition for receiving it. Those who have not mourned with her cannot expect to be nursed at her breast. He also highlights the image of God offering maternal comfort, even to the adult son.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry draws a sharp contrast between the two very different responses to God's word. Those who tremble at it are promised joy and comfort, while their enemies who cast them out in mockery will be put to shame. The same God who brings forth a nation suddenly will not fail to complete His comfort for His people.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that the phrase "as one whom" signals God's manner of acting in the most tender and compassionate way possible. For him, this expression captures the depth of divine gentleness and care.