What Does Isaiah 30:9 Mean?
For this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who would not hear and respond to the instruction of the LORD.
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
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:THE KEY
Because “will not” comes from the root for willingness, the verse exposes rebellion as a chosen refusal to receive the LORD’s instruction.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now where deception and refusal meet: the instruction is present, yet the will declines to receive and answer it. It names this resistance as rebellion, not an innocent gap in understanding.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every failure to hear is innocent confusion: some refusals are chosen.
THE ROOT
אָבוּ
ʾāvû
GROWS FROM
אבה
ʾ-b-h
To be willing, consent, or desire; in this negated phrase, to be unwilling.
“would not hear and respond” in this verse is ʾāvû. The phrase describes children who are unwilling to hear, so the barrier is a withheld yes, not a failed ear. The verse locates rebellion in the choice to refuse the instruction that reaches them.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāvâ: To be willing; to consent.
אָבָה
This base form names the willingness that is withheld in the verse.
tōʾbeh: Is or will be willing.
תֹאבֶה
This form keeps the focus on consent: the issue is willingness, not capacity.
כְּחָשִׁים
kĕḥāšîm
GROWS FROM
כחש
k-ḥ-sh
To deny, disown, deceive, or feign.
“lying” in this verse is kĕḥāšîm. This root can name denial as well as deceit. Beside the refusal to hear, the lie becomes more than a false sentence: it can be a posture that conceals refusal while appearing compliant.
ALSO GROWS
kāḥaš: To deny or disown.
כָּחַשׁ
The root reaches beyond spoken falsehood to rejecting what is true.
yəḵaḥăšû: They feign submission or deny.
יְכַחֲשׁוּ
This form is rendered “shall submit themselves” in Psalm 66:3, revealing how the root can describe outward deference that conceals denial.
תּוֹרַת
tōrat
GROWS FROM
ירה
y-r-h
To point out, direct, or instruct.
This root carries the sense of pointing out a direction. The LORD’s instruction is living guidance, and the refusal closes the way to that direction.
ALSO GROWS
yārāh: To direct or instruct.
יָרָה
The verb shows instruction as the act of giving direction.
mōreh: A teacher or instructor.
מוֹרֶה
The same root names one who directs and teaches, linking instruction to a living source of guidance.
THE PATTERN
When instruction is rejected, scripture portrays blocked hearing as chosen closure rather than the absence of a message.
But they refused to bend the ear, and turned a shoulder aside, and made their ears heavy so they would not hear and respond.For the heart of this people has grown thick, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and put it together with their heart, and turn around, and I should heal them.THE THREAD
Say to God, How awe-filled are your works! Through the abundance of your strength your enemies cringe before you.The phrase “submit themselves” renders יְכַחֲשׁוּ (yəḵaḥăšû, feign or deny), from כחש (kāḥaš, deny or deceive), the same root behind Isaiah’s “lying” children. The shared root reveals how apparent submission can conceal an inward refusal.
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