What Does Isaiah 28:16 Mean?
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a weighty cornerstone, a foundation set firm. The one who leans his weight will not hurry.
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
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.THE KEY
The Hebrew for “believeth” carries the sense of firmness, so the tested stone and the one who trusts it share a steadiness that does not hurry.
THE MEANING
A tested stone is already laid as the foundation in Zion. Trust takes its character from firmness, so your footing is not made secure by hurry. What is grounded can remain steady under pressure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that you must hurry to outrun collapse or be left unsupported. The verse locates stability in a foundation already laid and tested.
THE ROOT
הַמַּאֲמִין
ha-ma'amin
GROWS FROM
אמן
aman
to be firm, steady, reliable
“leans his weight” in this verse is ha-ma'amin. The one who “believeth” is described with a word from אמן (aman), whose root sense is firmness and reliability. Beside the tested stone, trust becomes a steadiness that does not need to rush.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: firmness; trust
אֱמוּנָה
This branch shows trust as a quality that can bear weight, like the foundation in the verse.
amen: firmly; truly; so be it
אָמֵן
The familiar response carries the root’s sense of firmness, echoing the steadiness of the one who trusts.
אֶבֶן
even
GROWS FROM
א־ב־ן
even
stone
The letters invite the wordplay אָב (av, father) + בֵּן (ben, son): the stone holds father and son in one image. Here the stone is the load-bearing point on which the promise of unhurried trust rests.
ALSO GROWS
avanim: stones
אֲבָנִים
The plural keeps the image concrete: stones are materials from which a structure is formed.
avnei: stones of
אַבְנֵי
This construct form appears in compound phrases about stones, keeping the word tied to built places and foundations.
מוּסָד
musad
GROWS FROM
יסד
yasad
to establish, found, or lay a base
“foundation set firm” in this verse is musad. The foundation word belongs to the root יסד (yasad), the act of establishing something at its base. The verse repeats the foundation image, making steadiness the structure beneath trust rather than a feeling the reader has to manufacture.
ALSO GROWS
yasad: to establish or lay a foundation
יָסַד
The verb names the establishing action behind the foundation already laid in Zion.
yesod: foundation; base
יְסוֹד
This related noun makes the verse’s image explicit: what is established at the base supports what rests above it.
THE PATTERN
Trust in a proven foundation gives steadiness when pressure calls for haste.
The stone the builders push away becomes the head of the corner.Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.Therefore it is held in the writing, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chosen, precious top-corner stone; and the one who leans his full weight upon him shall not be put to shame."THE THREAD
And he leaned his weight on the LORD, and he counted it to him as alignment.The Hebrew word translated “believed” here shares the root אמן (aman) with Isaiah’s “believeth”: firmness and trust grow from the same seed. Isaiah gives that trust a foundation image, the tested stone, and its sign is that it does not hurry.
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