What Does Isaiah 29:19 Mean?
The bowed ones will also add their gladness in the LORD, and the hungry ones among humankind will leap in the Set-Apart One of Israel.
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
The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.THE KEY
The “meek” are the bowed-down, yet the verse names them as the ones whose joy grows in the LORD.
THE MEANING
When life presses you low or leaves you without what you need, your joy can still grow in the LORD. The Holy One of Israel is not beyond the reach of the poor; the verse places their rejoicing in him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that joy belongs only to people who already have power, security, or plenty dissolves here: the meek and the poor are the ones whose joy grows and breaks out.
THE ROOT
עֲנָוִים
ʿanavim
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿ-n-h
To be bowed down or afflicted; in this word family, to be brought low.
“bowed ones” in this verse is ʿanavim. The word rendered “meek” belongs to a family shaped by being bowed down or afflicted. Its related form עָנִי (ʿānî, poor or afflicted) shows that this meekness carries the texture of lowliness under pressure, not simply a mild temperament.
ALSO GROWS
ʿānî: Poor, afflicted
עָנִי
It shares the lowly, afflicted quality of “meek” and shows the closeness between the conditions named in this verse.
ʿonî: Affliction, misery
עֳנִי
This noun makes the pressure behind being bowed down explicit; the verse names people in that low place as recipients of growing joy.
שִׂמְחָה
simchah
GROWS FROM
שמח
s-m-ḥ
To be glad, rejoice.
The noun for joy and the verb for rejoicing share one root, holding gladness and its expression together. As the meek’s joy increases in the LORD, the poor’s rejoicing gives that same gladness an outward expression.
ALSO GROWS
samach: Rejoice, be glad
שָׂמַח
The verb form shows joy as something expressed, echoing the poor who rejoice in the Holy One.
sameach: Glad, rejoicing
שָׂמֵחַ
This form describes the glad state carried by the root, alongside the joy that increases for the meek.
קְדוֹשׁ
qedosh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart; to be set apart.
“Set-Apart One of Israel” in this verse is qedosh. The title describes God’s nature as set apart, and the poor rejoice in that nature. Their joy is anchored in who the LORD is, even while the verse names their low standing and need.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Set-apartness, sacredness
קֹדֶשׁ
The noun names the quality carried by “Holy One,” locating the poor’s rejoicing in God’s set-apart nature.
qiddesh: Set apart, consecrate
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shows the action of making something set apart, expanding the root behind the title given to Israel’s God.
THE PATTERN
God’s presence becomes the source of joy for people whom life has pressed low.
For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he dresses the bowed ones in deliverance.Flourishing are the bowed, for they inherit the earth.He has pulled the mighty down from their seats, and lifted up the low.THE THREAD
But the bowed ones will inherit the land, and they will soften themselves in the abundance of wholeness.Psalm 37:11 uses the same Hebrew form עֲנָוִים (ʿanavim, meek or lowly), so the word points to those bowed low rather than only to people with a quiet temperament. It pairs their inheritance with delight, opening Isaiah’s growing joy as part of the same promise to the lowly.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us