What Does Isaiah 41:27 Mean?
The first says to Zion, Look, here they are. And I will give Jerusalem one who carries good news.
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 first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.THE KEY
Jerusalem is given a herald whose very work, announcing the news, shares its root with the word for tidings.
THE MEANING
Zion hears, “Behold, behold them,” and Jerusalem receives a herald of good news. The announcement arrives as a person given to the city. יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim, Jerusalem) carries שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) in its name, so the news is spoken into the place-name of wholeness.
THE ROOT
מְבַשֵּׂר
mevaser
GROWS FROM
בשר
announce, bring news
“carries good news” in this verse is mevaser. The word for the herald and בְּשׂוֹרָה (besorah, tidings) grow from the same root. English separates the person from the message; Hebrew holds the bearer and the act of announcing together.
ALSO GROWS
besorah: tidings, news
בְּשׂוֹרָה
This is the news the herald carries; the two words share the same root.
bisser: announced, brought news
בִּשֵּׂר
This verb names the herald’s act: making news known.
אֶתֵּן
’etten
GROWS FROM
נתן
give, set, place
“give” in this verse is ’etten. The speaker says the herald will be given to Jerusalem. The root also carries the sense of setting or placing, framing the messenger as someone placed within the city’s reach.
ALSO GROWS
natun: given, placed
נָתוּן
This form echoes the verse’s image of a herald placed within Jerusalem’s reach.
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
This related form makes the root’s giving concrete: what is given can be received as a gift.
THE PATTERN
Good news reaches people through a herald whose announcement makes the news present.
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.Look upon the mountains, the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard! Dance your feasts, O Judah, make whole your vows, for the worthless one will pass through you no more. He is utterly cut off.And the messenger said to them, Do not be afraid, for look, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people.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 Hebrew root בשר (b-s-r; basar, announce or bring news) shapes the herald here and the one who “bringeth good tidings” in Isaiah 52:7. There the news is spoken aloud as peace, deliverance, and God’s reign, giving content to the announcement Isaiah 41:27 leaves unnamed.
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