What Does Isaiah 46:10 Mean?
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient days the things not yet made, saying, My counsel will stand, and all that I delight in I will make.
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
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:THE KEY
The ending is already within the speaker’s view at the beginning, and what he takes pleasure in is not merely planned but done.
THE MEANING
You are not beyond the reach of God’s purpose: the One speaking declares the far end from the beginning. What God counsels stands and becomes action; what he takes pleasure in, he does. The future is held within a will that speaks and acts.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that events can finally defeat what God intends or that your future lies beyond his sight.
THE ROOT
אַחֲרִית
ʾaḥarît
GROWS FROM
אחר
ʾ-ḥ-r
after, behind, what comes later
English “end” can sound like a cutoff; אַחֲרִית (ʾaḥarît, afterpart or outcome) names what comes after a course of events. Beside רֵאשִׁית (rēʾšît, beginning or first), it frames the span from its first point to its outcome as something already declared.
ALSO GROWS
ʾaḥar: after, behind
אַחַר
This branch carries the basic sense of what follows or lies beyond.
ʾaḥarōn: last, latter
אַחֲרוֹן
This branch names what comes after what preceded it.
ʾaḥarît: afterpart, outcome, end
אַחֲרִית
This is the word in the verse: the outcome is declared from the beginning.
עֲצָתִי
ʿăṣātî
GROWS FROM
יעץ
y-ʿ-ṣ
advise, counsel, form a plan
This word family includes the act of counseling, the counselor, and the counsel itself. Here that counsel stands and is followed by “I will do,” joining settled direction with its enactment.
ALSO GROWS
yāʿaṣ: to advise, counsel
יָעַץ
The verb supplies the sense of direction carried by the counsel in the verse.
yōʿēṣ: counselor, adviser
יוֹעֵץ
The same root names the one who gives counsel.
ʿēṣâ: counsel, advice, plan
עֵצָה
This noun is the base form of “my counsel” in the verse.
חֶפְצִי
ḥep̄ṣî
GROWS FROM
חפץ
ḥ-p-ṣ
desire, delight; take pleasure in
“delight in” in this verse is ḥep̄ṣî. The same root can name delight or desire and also the matter desired. Here pleasure is an intention directed toward something, and the verse says that intention is done.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāfēṣ: desiring, delighting in
חָפֵץ
This verb form shows the active desire within the word for pleasure.
ḥēp̄eṣ: desire, delight; a desired matter or thing
חֵפֶץ
The noun can name both the delight and what is desired.
ḥăfāṣîm: desires, matters, things
חֲפָצִים
The plural extends the same root to multiple desires or matters.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s counsel persists beyond individual plans and directs what comes to pass.
The counsel of the LORD stands for the ages, the plans of his heart from generation to generation.Many plans are in the heart of a man, but the counsel of the LORD, it will stand.In him we also have been allotted an inheritance, marked out beforehand according to the aim of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will.THE THREAD
Calling a swooping bird from the sunrise, the man of my counsel from a far land. Yes, I have spoken it, and I will also bring it in; I have shaped it, and I will also make it.The Hebrew word for “counsel,” עֵצָה (ʿēṣâ, counsel), recurs here as “my counsel.” The next verse makes the promise concrete: “I have spoken it” and “I will also bring it to pass”, the same purpose is declared and carried into action.
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