Isaiah 12King James Version

A brief hymn of two stanzas, framed as the song the remnant will sing when God's anger turns to comfort. The first stanza addresses God directly: though you were angry, your anger turned. The second calls the community to draw water from the wells of salvation and proclaim God's works among the nations. Six chapters of judgment resolve into this short doxology.

The proper response to salvation is gratitude made public. What God has done for one community is news meant for every nation.

verse: "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation", the confession of trust echoes Exodus 15, linking this future song to Israel's first great act of deliverance at the sea.

Projected into the future restoration, though written in eighth-century Jerusalem. Isaiah gives the survivors their words before the event arrives. The wells of salvation image places the celebration at an act of drawing, something ordinary and physical, suggesting the restoration will be sustained by daily encounter with God rather than a single dramatic moment.

Isaiah the prophet. The redeemed remnant as the singers. The nations as the intended audience of the declaration. No individual human characters appear; the chapter is pure communal liturgy.

Chapter 12 closes the first major unit of Isaiah (chapters 1-12) with a doxology, following the literary pattern of the Psalter. Its echo of Moses' song at the sea suggests the coming salvation will be of exodus magnitude. Wells of salvation in verse 3 became a rich image in Jewish and Christian tradition.

The chapter is brief and almost restrained in its joy, which makes it more moving. After eleven chapters of accumulated grief and judgment, this quiet hymn of trust carries the weight of everything that came before it.