Isaiah 54:12 - Exposition

I will make thy windows of agates . Most moderns translate, "I will make thy battlements," or "thy pinnacles of rubies." The exact meaning is very doubtful. Thy gates of carbuncles . In the Revelation of St. John the gates are each of them composed of one pearl ( Revelation 21:21 )—the pearl betokening purity, the carbuncle the glow of devotional feeling. We must not expect consistency in descriptions which are entirely allegorical. All thy borders of pleasant stones; or, all thy boundaries. An enclosing wall seems to be meant (comp. Revelation 21:17 ).