What Does Isaiah 40:9 Mean?
O Zion, bearer of good news, climb onto the high mountain; O Jerusalem, bearer of good news, lift your voice with strength; lift it, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, Look, your God!
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
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!THE KEY
Jerusalem, whose name carries wholeness, is not just where good news arrives; she becomes the voice that calls others to behold God.
THE MEANING
The reader meets good news as a voice rising above fear and carrying outward: “Behold your God!” Wholeness becomes public speech, and seeing God is the message.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that fear must keep the truth unspoken is undone: the voice is told not to fear, then to say, “Behold your God!”
THE ROOT
מְבַשֶּׂרֶת
mevaseret
GROWS FROM
בשר
bāśar
To announce good news, to bring glad tidings.
“bearer of good news” in this verse is mevaseret. The root makes good news an act of announcement, not merely information. Zion and Jerusalem are presented as the heralds themselves: the city becomes a voice that carries the message outward.
ALSO GROWS
mevaser: A bearer or herald of good news.
מְבַשֵּׂר
The masculine form shares the same root as the feminine herald addressed here and appears in Isaiah 52:7.
besorah: Good news, tidings, or a message of gladness.
בְּשׂוֹרָה
The message and the one announcing it grow from the same root; in this verse, the city embodies the announcement.
הָרִימִי
harimi
GROWS FROM
רום
rûm
To rise, become high, or exalt.
“lift” in this verse is harimi. The call to a high mountain and the command to raise the voice share the image of height. The verb itself gives the announcement an upward motion: the voice rises into public hearing.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High or exalted.
רָם
This adjective echoes the elevation of the place from which the announcement is made.
marom: Height or a high place.
מָרוֹם
This noun shows the same root extending from rising into the height where something stands.
תִּירְאִי
tira'i
GROWS FROM
ירא
yare
To fear or stand in awe.
“do not fear” in this verse is tira'i. The command here is not to fear danger; the same root can also name awe when God is the one feared. The sentence places “be not afraid” beside “Behold your God,” distinguishing the fear that need not govern the voice from the one it points toward.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Fear or awe.
יִרְאָה
The noun carries the same range of response found in the root verb.
nora: Fearsome or awe-inspiring.
נוֹרָא
This related form shows how the root can describe what evokes fear or awe.
THE PATTERN
Good news becomes public when a voice carries the sight of God beyond one place.
The Lord gives the word; the ones who bring good news are a great army.How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard, who brings good news of good, who makes deliverance heard, who says to Zion, Your God governs.And how will they herald unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!THE THREAD
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard, who brings good news of good, who makes deliverance heard, who says to Zion, Your God governs.The same בשר root marks both voices: the herald addressed in Isaiah 40 and the one bringing good tidings in Isaiah 52. The later verse opens “Behold your God” further: the announcement is “Thy God reigneth!”
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