What Does Isaiah 40:30 Mean?
Even youths faint and tire, and young men utterly stumble.
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
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:THE KEY
The “young men” are the choice ones in their prime, yet even their strength ends in a stumble.
THE MEANING
Even the strongest season of your life meets exhaustion and collapse. The verse places human vigor itself within limits, so faltering is not a failure unique to you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being young, capable, or naturally strong means you can always keep going.
THE ROOT
כָּשׁוֹל יִכָּשֵׁלוּ
kāšōl yikkāšəlû
GROWS FROM
כשל
Stumble, totter, fail.
“utterly stumble” in this verse is kāšōl yikkāšəlû. The Hebrew repeats the root: literally, “stumbling, they will stumble.” The English “utterly fall” conveys the force, while the repeated sound reveals that their collapse begins as instability.
ALSO GROWS
mikshol: A stumbling block or obstacle.
מִכְשׁוֹל
The same root names both the stumbling and what trips someone into it.
makhshelah: Ruin or downfall.
מַכְשֵׁלָה
This branch shows how a stumble can become a broader collapse.
בַּחוּרִים
bachurim
GROWS FROM
בחר
Choose, select.
“Young men” is linked to the language of choosing and what is choice or prime. Even those at the peak of human vigor cannot escape the stumble named here.
ALSO GROWS
bachar: To choose or select.
בָּחַר
It shares the seed behind the word for young men, bringing the idea of the choice or prime ones into view.
mivchar: A choice thing; the best or select portion.
מִבְחָר
This branch echoes the prime quality associated with the young men, whose strength still has limits.
יִגָּעוּ
yiggāʿû
GROWS FROM
יגע
Labor, toil, grow weary.
“tire” in this verse is yiggāʿû. The root of “weary” also names toil and labor. The verse holds exertion and exhaustion together: even vigorous strength does not exempt a person from weariness.
ALSO GROWS
yāgēaʿ: Weary or exhausted.
יָגֵעַ
This form describes the condition named in the verse.
yəgîʿāh: Labor or toil.
יְגִיעָה
This branch connects weariness with exertion, showing the work and depletion held within the root.
THE PATTERN
Human vigor does not make a person immune to exhaustion, decline, or collapse.
As for humankind, his days are like grass; like the blossom of the field, so he blooms.For all flesh is as grass, and all its weight is as the blossom of grass. The grass dries, and the blossom falls.Therefore we do not give out; though our outer person is worn through, yet our inner person is made new day after day.THE THREAD
But those who wait upon the LORD exchange their strength; they rise on wings like eagles; they run and do not tire; they walk and do not faint.Verse 30 ends with even the vigorous stumbling and growing weary. Verse 31 answers with strength renewed through waiting upon the LORD, shifting the source of endurance beyond human vigor.
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