The tears from all faces

'He will wipe the tears from all faces.' It takes nothing from the loveliness of the verse to say that is exactly what will be required.

Gilead

- Marilynne Robinson

When I first read that quote, in that most beautifully quotable of all books, I assumed she was referencing Revelation 21:4. Why I don't know, because the quotation marks would indicate a quote (!) and I know Revelation doesn't quite go like that. It's not so long ago that I realised that the verse quoted was actually Isaiah 25 vs 8, which more or less implies that there will actually be tears on all faces (for indeed, how could there not be):

He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

That will be a grand day.