What Does Isaiah 46:13 Mean?
I bring near my alignment; it will not be far off, and my deliverance will not linger. I set deliverance in Zion for Israel, my adornment.
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
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.THE KEY
Deliverance is not left somewhere beyond your reach: it is brought near and placed in Zion.
THE MEANING
The LORD brings alignment near; it is not kept beyond your reach. Deliverance does not tarry; it is placed in Zion for Israel. Israel is named as the LORD’s splendor, so deliverance appears among a people who display that beauty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that God’s righteousness is distant and deliverance always has to wait is undone here: both are drawn near, and deliverance is placed among the people.
THE ROOT
תְּשׁוּעָה
teshu'ah
GROWS FROM
ישע
Deliver, bring out into safety and spaciousness.
The verse uses this word twice: deliverance will not delay, and deliverance is placed in Zion. What can sound like a far-off outcome is named as a movement already brought near and given a place.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver or rescue.
יָשַׁע
The action-word behind deliverance shows that this is movement out of constriction, not just a distant promise.
yeshu'ah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This is the noun repeated in the verse, first as something that will not tarry and then as something placed in Zion.
moshia: Deliverer.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
The same root can name the one who brings the movement to safety.
צִדְקָתִי
tsidqati
GROWS FROM
צדק
Rightness, justice, alignment.
Righteousness here carries the sense of alignment, and the verse says that alignment is brought near. It stands alongside deliverance, rather than as a remote standard that must be reached before deliverance arrives.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness or alignment.
צֶדֶק
This root sense opens the verse’s “righteousness” as a state of things set right.
tsaddiq: One who is right or aligned.
צַדִּיק
The same root describes a person in alignment, connecting the abstract quality to lived character.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice.
צְדָקָה
This noun shares the root and shows how rightness can be expressed in action.
תִּפְאַרְתִּי
tif'arti
GROWS FROM
פאר
To adorn, beautify, or make splendid.
The closing word is tif’eret, splendor or beauty. Israel is named as the LORD’s adornment, so the verse’s deliverance is visible in a people who display that splendor.
ALSO GROWS
pe'er: Adornment or headdress.
פְּאֵר
This branch makes the root’s image of visible adornment concrete.
tif'eret: Beauty or splendor.
תִּפְאֶרֶת
This is the noun-form of the word used for “my glory,” revealing the beauty carried in that phrase.
THE PATTERN
God’s deliverance moves what is far into nearness, until wholeness can dwell among people.
Surely his deliverance is near to those in awe of him, that weight may settle in our land.But now, in the Anointed One, Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of the Anointed One.I create the fruit of the lips. Wholeness, wholeness to the one far off and to the one near, says the LORD, and I will heal him.THE THREAD
My alignment is near. My deliverance has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands will wait for me, and for my arm they will wait.This verse repeats the roots for alignment (צדק, ts-d-q) and deliverance (ישע, y-sh-ʿ). In Isaiah 46, alignment is brought near and deliverance is placed in Zion; here alignment is near as deliverance goes forth to the peoples.
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