What Does Isaiah 42:21 Mean?
The LORD delights for the sake of his alignment. He will enlarge the instruction and make it mighty.
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 LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.THE KEY
The LORD’s own alignment turns instruction into something to behold: he makes it great and honorable.
THE MEANING
The LORD delights in his own alignment and makes instruction expansive and honorable before you. Its direction brings his character into view, giving the way that leads toward what is right a weight and beauty of its own.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that God’s instruction is something the LORD would rather keep small dissolves here: he delights in enlarging it and making it honorable.
THE ROOT
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
ירה
y-r-h
To point, direct, or teach; instruction that gives direction.
Torah grows from a verb of pointing, directing, and teaching; the instruction carries a direction within it. Here the LORD makes that direction great and honorable, bringing his alignment into view.
ALSO GROWS
moreh: Teacher; one who instructs.
מוֹרֶה
The branch makes instruction a living act of guidance, fitting the LORD’s work of making his way known.
yoreh: He teaches or directs.
יֹרֶה
The instruction points somewhere: it gives direction toward the alignment named in the verse.
צִדְקוֹ
tsidqo
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
The verse grounds the magnifying of instruction in the LORD’s own alignment. His character and what he teaches belong together: the instruction carries the shape of his rightness.
ALSO GROWS
tzedakah: Righteousness, justice, or right action.
צְדָקָה
This branch carries alignment into action, showing how the LORD’s character can take shape in what is done.
tzaddiq: A righteous or just person.
צַדִּיק
This branch describes a person by their alignment, echoing the verse’s link between the LORD’s character and his instruction.
יַגְדִּיל
yagdil
GROWS FROM
גדל
g-d-l
To grow, become great, or make great.
“enlarge” in this verse is yagdil. The Hebrew verb shares its root with words for greatness and a tower. The instruction is raised into prominence, made visible and worthy of attention.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: Great or large.
גָּדוֹל
This branch carries the same quality of greatness that the LORD gives to his instruction.
migdal: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises into view; the shared root makes the verse’s act of magnifying feel like instruction raised high and made visible.
THE PATTERN
God’s instruction is enlarged and honored as an expression of his alignment and a source of life.
And what nation is so great, that has statutes and judgments so aligned as all this instruction which I set before you this day?The instruction of the LORD is whole, turning back the living soul; the witness of the LORD is steady, making the open ones wise.Do not think that I came to loosen the instruction or the prophets. I came not to loosen, but to fill.THE THREAD
The instruction of the LORD is whole, turning back the living soul; the witness of the LORD is steady, making the open ones wise.The Hebrew word translated “law” in both passages is תּוֹרָה (torah), instruction. Psalm 19 shows what this instruction does in you: it restores the soul and makes the simple wise.
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