What Does Isaiah 49:3 Mean?
And he said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be adorned.
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
And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.THE KEY
Here, “glorified” carries the sense of being made splendid: the speaker’s beauty becomes visible in the servant.
THE MEANING
The voice names Israel as its servant and says its own splendor becomes visible in him. You meet a present image of service as the place where that beauty appears.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that the servant stands outside the place of splendor: the voice locates its own beauty in Israel.
THE ROOT
אֶתְפָּאָר
’etpa’ar
GROWS FROM
פאר
pa’ar
To adorn, make splendid, or glorify.
“adorned” in this verse is ’etpa’ar. The word translated “glorified” belongs to the language of adornment and visible beauty. The verse places that splendor “in” the servant, so glory is revealed through Israel.
ALSO GROWS
tif’eret: Beauty, splendor, or ornament
תִּפְאֶרֶת
This branch makes the beauty within “glorified” easier to hear.
pe’er: An ornament or headdress
פְּאֵר
This concrete adornment shows how the root can name splendor made visible.
עַבְדִּי
‘avdi
GROWS FROM
עבד
avad
To work or serve.
“my servant” in this verse is ‘avdi. “Servant” grows from the same root as service and labor. Beside the root for adornment, it joins service with the place where splendor is seen.
ALSO GROWS
eved: Servant
עֶבֶד
This is the noun form used for the one named in the verse.
avodah: Work or service
עֲבוֹדָה
This branch makes clear that the servant’s name is tied to the act of serving.
THE PATTERN
The text repeatedly presents a people as the place where the LORD’s beauty and splendor become visible.
Ring out, O heavens, for the LORD has made it. Shout, O lower parts of the earth. Burst into song, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it, for the LORD has bought back Jacob, and in Israel he adorns himself.For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he dresses the bowed ones in deliverance.All that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine; and I am clothed in weight in them.THE THREAD
For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he dresses the bowed ones in deliverance.The Hebrew verb translated “glorified” in Isaiah 49:3 shares the root פאר (pa’ar) with “beautify” in this verse. That shared root lets you hear glory as splendor made visible among the people.
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