What Does Isaiah 38:19 Mean?
The living, the living, he will thank you, as I do this day; the father to the children will make your truth known.
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 living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.THE KEY
Praise and teaching are two movements of one living voice: recognizing God and making that truth known to children.
THE MEANING
The life you have now can praise God openly; praise is voiced recognition, not only a private feeling. The truth you recognize can become something a child comes to know. This verse holds today’s voice and the next generation together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what you know of God is meant to stay private: here, praise is spoken and truth is passed on to children.
THE ROOT
יוֹדֶךָ
yōḏeḵā
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
Acknowledge, give thanks, praise.
“thank” in this verse is yōḏeḵā. The word translated “praise” also carries the sense of giving thanks and acknowledging. Its sound echoes the word translated “make known” in the next phrase; these are distinct roots, but the pairing joins voiced recognition with passing knowledge on.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving, thanks.
תּוֹדָה
This related word shows praise as an expressed acknowledgment, giving voice to what is recognized.
Yehudah: Judah; a name associated in Genesis 29:35 with praise.
יְהוּדָה
The name’s wordplay with praise shows acknowledgment becoming part of a person’s identity.
יוֹדִיעַ
yôḏîaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
Know, perceive, recognize; in this form, cause someone to know.
“Make known” is a causative form of a word for knowing or perceiving. The verse describes truth moving between people as knowledge another generation can receive, alongside praise voiced in the present.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, knowing.
דַּעַת
This noun makes clear that what is passed on is something to be known and perceived.
yōḏēaʿ: One who knows or perceives.
יֹדֵעַ
The related form keeps knowing personal: a child becomes one who knows, rather than merely receiving words.
אֱמֶת
ʾemet
GROWS FROM
אמן
ʾ-m-n
Be firm, steady, reliable.
The word for truth is associated with firmness and reliability. The truth made known to children is therefore something steady to lean on, not merely a statement to repeat.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Trust, steadiness.
אֱמוּנָה
This related word joins trust with what is firm enough to rely on.
amen: Amen; a firm affirmation.
אָמֵן
The affirmation echoes the idea of something dependable and established as true.
THE PATTERN
What the living recognize about God becomes speakable and can be carried across generations.
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.One generation shouts of your works to another, and sets forth your strong deeds.And these things you heard from me among many witnesses, place beside steady people who will be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
And the LORD passed by before his face, and called out, The LORD, The LORD God, compassionate and full of favor, slow to flare, abounding in faithful love and truth,Isaiah names God’s truth as what a father makes known to children; Exodus uses that same Hebrew word for truth while naming God’s character. Truth here is joined to faithful love and abundance, giving the next generation something steady to know.
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