Bridal land

At the end of Isaiah 61, the prophet (or Zion) rejoices because Yahweh “has clothed me with garments of salvation, and has wrapped me in a robe of righteousness.” The clothing is festal, clothing for a wedding, and Zion is both the garlanded bridegroom and the jeweled bride (v. 10). Zion is head-and-body, a totus Zion.

Verse 11 explains (“for,” ki) that Zion has been prepared for a wedding in the same way that the earth sprouts with vegetation and a garden with its fruit-bearing plants and flowers. The analogy is made literal in the final clause: “Master Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”

So we have a series of analogies: Bridal clothing is like vegetation on a land and plants in a garden. Plants sprouting from the earth to cover the land are like righteousness and praise spring up from the people. And, if A:B and B:C, then A:C, so the bridal clothing is the sprouting of righteousness and praise.

A fruitful land is a clothed land. A land covered with grain and corn and vineyards is a bridal land. A people is a clothed, bridal land when its chief fruit is righteousness and praise.