What Does Isaiah 40:6 Mean?
The voice says, Call out. And he says, What do I call out? All flesh is grass, and all its faithful love is like the flower of the field.
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 voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:THE KEY
The verse places not only your body but even its finest goodness among things that bloom and pass.
THE MEANING
Your embodied life is real and tender, yet it is not permanent; even the faithful love expressed through it is like a field flower. The image names both its beauty and its season.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The good you express does not have to last forever to be real.
THE ROOT
חַסְדּוֹ
chasdo
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful love, loyal kindness; the verse uses the word with a suffix meaning “its.”
The word translated “goodliness” carries the sense of chesed: faithful love expressed in relationship. The verse says that even this goodness, not only outward beauty, is like a flower in its season.
ALSO GROWS
chesed: Faithful love
חֶסֶד
This branch reveals that the verse’s “goodliness” includes loyal, loving action, not just attractive appearance.
chasid: A faithful or devoted person
חָסִיד
This related word describes a person marked by chesed; even that devoted character belongs to the flower-like goodness the verse describes.
THE PATTERN
Human life and its visible goodness flourish briefly, like grass and field flowers.
As for humankind, his days are like grass; like the blossom of the field, so he blooms.He comes forth like a blossom and is cut off; he flees also like a shadow, and does not stand.For all flesh is as grass, and all its weight is as the blossom of grass. The grass dries, and the blossom falls.THE THREAD
For all flesh is as grass, and all its weight is as the blossom of grass. The grass dries, and the blossom falls.Peter echoes Isaiah’s image, making explicit that human flesh is grass and human excellence is its flower. The next line points to what endures, sharpening the contrast this verse opens.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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