Isaiah 60:4

4 Look up! Look around! Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you: Your sons coming from great distances, your daughters carried by their nannies.

Isaiah 60:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 60:4

Lift up thine eyes round about, and see
The Gentiles and kings coming to Christ and his church; the vast number of converts flocking from all parts of the world to join themselves to the church of Christ, and to behold the wonderful work of God among the Jews now converted. The Targum is,

``lift up thine eyes O Jerusalem, round about, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity:''
all they gather themselves, and come to thee:
this seems to have respect not to the Gentiles, as before; but to the Jews themselves, who are scattered up and down in the world; but now, being in a wonderful manner converted, shall gather together in a body, and go up to Jerusalem, where a Christian church of them will be formed, and to which they will join themselves; or this may respect the kings, ( Isaiah 60:2 ) : thy sons shall come from far;
such as are of the seed of Abraham, children of the Jews, and now born again, and so Zion's sons; these shall come from the furthest parts of the earth, where they are, and incorporate themselves with their brethren: and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side;
by the ministers of the word, and with the sincere milk of it, and the breasts of Gospel ordinances; see ( 1 Thessalonians 2:7 ) . The Targum is, "shall be carried at their sides" F19: and the Septuagint and Arabic versions, on their shoulders; and so refers to the manner of their being brought, and not to their bringing up; see ( Isaiah 49:22 ) , but the former sense is best. Ben Melech interprets it of their being nursed up at the side of great personages, kings and queens, according to ( Isaiah 49:23 ) . The word "thy" is not in the original; and it may be as well: rendered "at their side", as is supplied by some F20.
FOOTNOTES:

F19 "Ad latus portabuntur", Vitringa.
F20 (du le) "ad latus illorum", Gataker.

Isaiah 60:4 In-Context

2 The whole earth is wrapped in darkness, all people sunk in deep darkness, But God rises on you, his sunrise glory breaks over you.
3 Nations will come to your light, kings to your sunburst brightness.
4 Look up! Look around! Watch as they gather, watch as they approach you: Your sons coming from great distances, your daughters carried by their nannies.
5 When you see them coming you'll smile - big smiles! Your heart will swell and, yes, burst! All those people returning by sea for the reunion, a rich harvest of exiles gathered in from the nations!
6 And then streams of camel caravans as far as the eye can see, young camels of nomads in Midian and Ephah, Pouring in from the south from Sheba, loaded with gold and frankincense, preaching the praises of God.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.