What Does Isaiah 53:9 Mean?
He set his grave among the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, and no deceit was in his mouth.
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 he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.THE KEY
A grave among the wicked can describe where he is placed; it cannot make violence or deceit the truth of him.
THE MEANING
An assigned place beside the wicked or the rich does not settle the truth of the person there; the verse distinguishes that placement from the life’s actions and speech. Its measure is precise: no violence in what is done, no deceit in what is said.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being placed among the wicked is proof that you are wicked.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתֵּן
wayyitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
to give, set, or place
“set” in this verse is wayyitten. The word translated “made” also carries the root sense of giving, setting, or placing. The root lets you hear the grave as an assigned place beside the wicked and the rich, while the verse separately names what he has done and said.
ALSO GROWS
mattan: gift, present
מַתָּן
A gift is something given; the same root sense of giving underlies the placing described here.
mattanah: gift, present
מַתָּנָה
This form also names what is given, showing the root’s connection between giving and placement.
חָמָס
ḥāmās
GROWS FROM
חמס
ḥ-m-s
to act violently or do wrong; violence
The verse does not merely deny association with the wicked; it names violence as something he has not done. The root places the claim at the level of force and wrongdoing, keeping assigned company separate from actual conduct.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāmās: violence, wrong
חָמָס
This noun names the harm the verse says is absent from his actions.
ḥāmas: to act violently, do wrong
חָמַס
The verb form makes the connection to enacted conduct explicit.
מִרְמָה
mirmāh
GROWS FROM
רמה
r-m-h
to deceive or deal treacherously
The sentence locates deceit in the mouth, reaching what is said as well as what is done. The root carries both the act of deceiving and deceit itself, making the absence of deceit a concrete feature of his speech.
ALSO GROWS
rāmāh: to deceive, trick
רָמָה
The verb names the act whose trace the verse says is absent from his mouth.
mirmāh: deceit, fraud
מִרְמָה
The noun names the deceit that the verse explicitly says is not found in his speech.
THE PATTERN
A person’s character appears in actions and speech, while the company or place assigned to them is not itself a verdict.
Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.Lying lips make the LORD recoil, but those who work in trust are his delight.Who never missed the mark, nor was bait found in his mouth;THE THREAD
Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.Psalm 34:13 uses the same Hebrew מִרְמָה (mirmāh, deceit) for what the lips speak. Isaiah says this word is absent from his mouth; the Psalm shows speech as the place that same root becomes audible.
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