What Does Isaiah 27:5 Mean?
Or let him grasp my stronghold, and make wholeness with me; wholeness let him make with me.
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
Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.THE KEY
The verse makes peace begin with a grip on God’s own stronghold, so wholeness starts from strength already offered.
THE MEANING
You can take hold of God’s own stronghold; the verse places strength within reach. Its repeated shalom names the result as wholeness with God, a settled peace that reaches beyond a pause in conflict. The repetition lets that promise land twice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must become strong enough to secure peace with God: the verse directs your hand to God’s strength.
THE ROOT
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
to be whole, complete, brought to completion
“make wholeness” in this verse is shalom. Shalom appears twice, opening peace into wholeness rather than a mere pause in conflict. The same root family connects being whole with setting things right, so the verse’s peace carries the sense of a relation made whole.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch reveals the fullness inside shalom: peace with God is named as wholeness.
shillem: to repay, recompense, or make restitution
שִׁלֵּם
This branch links the root’s wholeness with setting things right, adding a note of repair to the verse’s repeated peace.
מָעוֹז
ma'oz
GROWS FROM
עזז
ʿ-z-z
to be strong, mighty
Ma’oz can mean strength, refuge, or stronghold, from a root of being mighty. The verse pictures peace as taking hold of a secure place, a movement from exposure toward shelter.
ALSO GROWS
ʿoz: strength, might
עֹז
This branch shows the force contained in God’s stronghold: the strength is already there to be grasped.
ʿaz: strong, mighty
עָז
The adjective preserves the root’s quality of strength and helps the stronghold read as a place of power and refuge.
יַחֲזֵק
yachazek
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
to be firm or strong, to strengthen, to seize or hold fast
The verb for taking hold comes from a root of firmness and strength, so the grasp itself carries the sense of becoming firm. That grip is directed toward God’s ma’oz, turning strength into a place of refuge.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: to be strong, prevail, or hold firm
חָזַק
This branch shows that taking hold involves firmness, not a fleeting touch.
chizzeq: to strengthen, make firm
חִזֵּק
This branch echoes the verse’s movement: the grasp is bound to strength and firmness.
THE PATTERN
God establishes wholeness by giving his own strength and presence as the ground of peace.
The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with wholeness.You will keep in wholeness upon wholeness the one whose shaped mind rests upon you, for in you he leans his full weight.For he is our wholeness, the one who made both one and loosed the middle wall of the fence.THE THREAD
The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with wholeness.Psalm 29:11 places עֹז (ʿoz, strength) beside שָׁלוֹם (shalom, peace), the same roots that frame Isaiah’s stronghold and peace. It makes the movement visible: God’s strength is the shelter from which wholeness comes.
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