What Does Isaiah 40:14 Mean?
With whom does he take counsel, and who makes him discern, and trains him in the way of judgment, and trains him in knowing, and makes him know the way of discernment?
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
With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?THE KEY
God’s wisdom is not borrowed from an authority above him; there is no outside vantage from which to teach him.
THE MEANING
This question reaches you whenever you imagine that ultimate judgment needs a higher instructor. Judgment, knowledge, and discernment do not arrive in God from a source above him; he is not a pupil learning the measure by which he sees. The verse leaves no outside vantage from which to supply him with wisdom.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God learns from a superior standard or that a wiser authority stands above him.
THE ROOT
נוֹעָץ
nôʿāṣ
GROWS FROM
יעץ
y-ʿ-ṣ
to advise or counsel
“took counsel” in this verse is nôʿāṣ. The Hebrew verb נוֹעָץ (nôʿāṣ: consult, take counsel) belongs to the same root as עֵצָה (ʿēṣāh: counsel) and יוֹעֵץ (yōʿēṣ: counselor). The question ties seeking counsel and being a counselor together, then asks who could occupy that role toward God.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēṣāh: counsel, advice
עֵצָה
This noun names the counsel sought in the verb.
yōʿēṣ: counselor, adviser
יוֹעֵץ
The one who gives counsel comes from the same root as taking counsel.
דָּעַת
daʿat
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
to know, recognize, perceive
The verse places דָּעַת (daʿat: knowledge) beside teaching and discernment, so knowledge is more than a stock of facts; it is what is known and perceived. Its root also gives the verb יָדַע (yādaʿ: to know, recognize), linking knowledge with the act of knowing.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: to know, recognize, perceive
יָדַע
The verb shows knowledge as the act of knowing, not merely information received.
dēʿāh: knowledge, understanding
דֵּעָה
This related noun keeps knowing and understanding in the same word family.
תְּבוּנוֹת
teḇûnōṯ
GROWS FROM
בין
b-y-n
to discern or distinguish
“makes him discern” in this verse is teḇûnōṯ. תְּבוּנוֹת (teḇûnōṯ: understandings, discernments) belongs to a root of discerning and distinguishing. The verse closes with a way of discernment, presenting understanding as a path of seeing rather than a lesson passed down to God.
ALSO GROWS
bîn: to discern, understand
בִּין
This verb names the act beneath understanding.
bînâ: understanding, discernment
בִּינָה
This noun shows discernment as the faculty the verse says no one teaches God.
THE PATTERN
The source of wisdom is not a pupil of any creature or authority within the world it orders.
Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges the raised ones?Where were you when I laid the footings of the earth? Declare it, if you have discernment.For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has stood beside him as his counselor?THE THREAD
Who marks out the breath of the LORD, or, as his counselor, makes him know?In Isaiah 40:13, עֲצָתוֹ (ʿaṣātô: his counsel) shares the יעץ (y-ʿ-ṣ) root with נוֹעָץ (nôʿāṣ: took counsel) here. The first question asks who can direct the LORD’s רוּחַ (rûaḥ: breath, wind, spirit); this one asks who could advise him in judgment and understanding, widening the same challenge.
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