What Does Isaiah 40:5 Mean?

And the weight of the LORD is uncovered, and all flesh sees it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.

Isaiah 40:5 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

THE KEY

The LORD’s weight is uncovered for all flesh to see together.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s weight is no longer hidden; it becomes visible to all flesh at once. What is spoken stands as the ground for this shared seeing. The verse reaches beyond private perception to a sight held in common.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that the LORD’s presence is only visible to a select few: here, all flesh sees it together.

THE ROOT

כָּבוֹד

kavod

GROWS FROM

כבד

k-b-d

To be heavy; weight.

English “glory” can sound like honor or radiance, while ⁨כָּבוֹד⁩ (kavod, weight) carries the sense of something weighty. The verse shows that weight becoming visible to all flesh.

ALSO GROWS

kaved: heavy, weighty

כָּבֵד

The adjective shares the root’s basic sense of heaviness, bringing the weight inside “glory” into view.

kavod: weight, honor, glory

כָּבוֹד

The verse’s word holds these senses together: the LORD’s glory is the LORD’s weight.

וְנִגְלָה

weniglah

GROWS FROM

גלה

g-l-h

To uncover, disclose, make visible.

“uncovered” in this verse is weniglah. The revelation is an uncovering: what was hidden becomes visible. The verse presents seeing as what follows when the covering is removed.

ALSO GROWS

galah: uncover, reveal

גָּלָה

This active form names the uncovering that lets the LORD’s weight be seen.

niglah: be uncovered, be revealed

נִגְלָה

This form describes the weight becoming visible, as it does in the verse.

דִּבֵּר

dibber

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

To speak; the root also forms words for a word, matter, or thing.

“has spoken” in this verse is dibber. The root joins speaking with the word or matter spoken. Here, the mouth’s utterance and the coming-to-view of the LORD’s weight belong in one statement.

ALSO GROWS

davar: word, matter, thing

דָּבָר

This noun shows the root’s reach from speech to the matter expressed.

dibber: speak, utter

דִּבֵּר

The verse uses this form for what the LORD’s mouth has spoken.

THE PATTERN

When the LORD’s weight is revealed, its reach extends to shared sight across all flesh.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the weight of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2:14 · SDVThe LORD’s glory fills the earth, making its presence known across the whole world.

The LORD has bared his set-apart arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the edges of the earth shall see the deliverance of our God.

Isaiah 52:10 · SDVThe LORD uncovers his strength before the nations, and the earth’s farthest reaches see.

And all flesh shall perceive the deliverance of God.

Luke 3:6 · SDVThe same horizon appears: all flesh sees what God brings into view.

THE THREAD

Rise, shine, for your light has come, and the weight of the LORD has risen upon you.

Isaiah 60:1 · SDV

Isaiah 60:1 uses ⁨כָּבוֹד⁩ (kavod, weight), the same word at the heart of Isaiah 40:5. There, all flesh sees the LORD’s weight uncovered; here, that weight rises upon a person.

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