What Does Isaiah 5:16 Mean?
But the LORD of hosts shall be lifted high in judgment, and the set-apart God shall be set apart in alignment.
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
But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.THE KEY
In Hebrew, “holy” and “sanctified” share one root: God’s set-apart nature is recognized through judgment and alignment.
THE MEANING
You see God’s stature in judgment and God’s set-apart nature in righteousness. Holiness is not remote from justice; it becomes visible through it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that holiness is detached from justice: God’s set-apart nature becomes recognizable in right judgment.
THE ROOT
קָדוֹשׁ
qadosh
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
q-d-sh
To set apart as sacred; to be recognized as set apart.
“the set-apart God” in this verse is qadosh. English gives “holy” and “sanctified” different sounds, but both forms come from קדשׁ (q-d-sh, set apart): qadosh names what God is, while niqdash says that nature is recognized as set apart. The same root appears in מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, sanctuary), where set-apartness becomes a place.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Holiness; set-apartness.
קֹדֶשׁ
It names the quality shared by both “holy” and “sanctified” in the verse.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It shows the same root describing not only a nature but also a place marked by that nature.
qiddesh: To set apart or sanctify.
קִדֵּשׁ
It makes explicit the action contained in the verse’s word “sanctified.”
מִשְׁפָּט
mishpat
GROWS FROM
שפט
sh-p-t
To judge, decide, and establish what is right.
Mishpat carries both the act of judging and the right ordering that judgment establishes. The verse locates the LORD’s exaltation in judgment itself, where what is right becomes visible.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: To judge or decide a case.
שָׁפַט
It is the action from which mishpat, judgment, grows.
shofet: Judge or ruler.
שֹׁפֵט
It names the one who carries out the discernment expressed in mishpat.
צְדָקָה
tsedaqah
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Rightness, justice, alignment; what is in right relation.
“in alignment” in this verse is tsedaqah. Tsedaqah names the quality or practice of what is right, and its root also yields words for justice and a just person. Here, righteousness is the field in which the Holy One is recognized as set apart.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness, alignment.
צֶדֶק
It shares the seed of tsedaqah and makes the verse’s link between righteousness and judgment clearer.
tsaddiq: A just or aligned person.
צַדִּיק
It shows the same root describing someone whose way is in right relation.
THE PATTERN
God’s character becomes visible through judgment that brings rightness into view.
The LORD is known in the judgment he makes; the wicked is snared in the deed of his own palms. Higgaion. Selah.With my living soul I have craved you in the night. Yea, with my breath within me I will seek you at dawn. For when your judgments are in the earth, those who settle in the world will be trained in alignment.To show his alignment in this present season, so that he himself might be aligned, and the one who aligns the one who trusts in Jesus.THE THREAD
Alignment and judgment are the footing of your throne; faithful love and truth go before your face.Psalm 89:14 sets צֶדֶק (tsedeq, justice and alignment) beside מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, judgment) as the foundation of God’s throne. Isaiah 5:16 joins that same pair: judgment lifts the LORD into view, while alignment reveals the Holy One’s set-apart nature.
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