What Does Isaiah 24:15 Mean?
Therefore, in the lights, give weight to the LORD, and the name of the LORD God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.THE KEY
The verse gives weight to the LORD’s nature in the fires and across the sea, because the name carries the nature of the one named.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s nature has weight in the fire and at the sea’s far edges; neither heat nor distance contains it. The verse holds the name of Israel’s God together with these widely separated places, making recognition reach across both danger and remoteness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the divine can be recognized only in safe or familiar places; the verse names fire and distant shores together.
THE ROOT
כַּבְּדוּ
kabbedu
GROWS FROM
כבד
K-B-D
To be heavy, carry weight, or give weight.
“give weight to” in this verse is kabbedu. The word translated “glorify” belongs to the weight-family: it means recognizing the LORD as substantial, not merely decorating the name with praise. The same root gives kavod, often rendered glory, keeping weight and honor joined.
ALSO GROWS
kavod: Weight, honor, glory
כָּבוֹד
This noun shows that what is honored is treated as weighty.
kaved: Heavy
כָּבֵד
The physical sense of heaviness opens the concrete image beneath the act of glorifying.
kibbed: Honored, treated as weighty
כִּבֵּד
This verb makes the shared root visible: to honor is to assign weight.
שֵׁם
shem
GROWS FROM
שֵׁם
Name, reputation, the recognizable nature of the one named.
The name here carries the nature of Israel’s God, not just a label. The verse joins that nature to the LORD’s weight: what is named is also what is recognized as substantial.
ALSO GROWS
shemō: His name
שֵׁמוֹ
The possessive form keeps the name attached to the one whose nature it makes recognizable.
shem tov: A good name or reputation
שֵׁם טוֹב
This phrase shows how a name can carry the recognized character of its bearer.
בָּאֻרִים
ba’urim
GROWS FROM
אור
ʾ-W-R
Light, brightness, or flame.
“in the lights” in this verse is ba’urim. The word rendered “fires” belongs to the light-and-flame family, keeping the image vivid and material. The verse places the LORD’s weight amid burning brightness and at the far coasts of the sea.
ALSO GROWS
or: Light
אוֹר
It shows the brightness sense within the same word-family.
ur: Flame or fire
אוּר
It carries the burning sense expressed by the KJV here.
ma’or: Luminary, light-bearer
מָאוֹר
It extends the root’s light imagery to a source of brightness.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s weight is recognized across all places and through all things.
Give to the LORD the weight of his name; bow down to the LORD in set-apart splendor.And one called out to another, and said, Set apart, set apart, set apart is the LORD of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his weight.For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him let there be weight for the ages. Amen.THE THREAD
Give to the LORD the weight of his name; bow down to the LORD in set-apart splendor.Isaiah joins the LORD’s weight to the LORD’s name; Psalm 29 does the same, explicitly connecting glory with his name. Read together, the name carries the nature made weighty across the world.
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