What Does Isaiah 55:7 Mean?
Let the wicked leave his way, and the man of crookedness his plans. Let him turn back to the LORD, and he will have compassion on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly release.
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
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “return” also gives the word for “backsliding,” and the turn back is met by pardon described as multiplying.
THE MEANING
The way you are going and the thoughts you are holding can be left behind as you turn back toward the LORD. God meets the returning person with compassion and pardon that multiplies.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a wrong path makes the way back impossible: the verse pairs return with compassion and abundant pardon.
THE ROOT
יָשֹׁב
yashov
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Turn back, return.
“turn back to” in this verse is yashov. Isaiah’s word for returning belongs to the same root family as the word for backsliding. The verse names a change of direction: leaving the former path and turning toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn back, return.
שׁוּב
This is the root behind the verse’s “return,” the turn toward the LORD.
meshubah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
Hosea uses this same-root word for backsliding, showing that turning away and returning share a root.
לִסְלוֹחַ
lisloach
GROWS FROM
סלח
salach
Pardon, forgive.
“release” in this verse is lisloach. This is the verb for pardon, the response that follows the person’s return. The verse places it after a separate verb of increase, describing pardon as abundant rather than measured.
ALSO GROWS
salach: Pardon, forgive.
סָלַח
This is the verb’s basic form and names the pardoning at the center of the verse.
nislach: Be forgiven, be pardoned.
נִסְלַח
This form shows the same root as something received: the charge is released.
יַרְבֶּה
yarbeh
GROWS FROM
רבה
rabah
Increase, become many, multiply.
The English adverb “abundantly” compresses an action: the Hebrew says God increases or multiplies toward pardon. Abundance is expressed as something God does, not as a quantity the returning person must supply.
ALSO GROWS
rabah: Increase, become many.
רָבָה
This is the root’s basic verb sense.
hirbah: He increased, multiplied.
הִרְבָּה
This related form makes the increase active, echoing the verse’s description of pardon as multiplied.
THE PATTERN
When a person turns back toward God, the response is compassion that opens a way beyond the former failure.
Go and call out these words toward the north, and say, Turn back, O turned-away Israel, says the LORD. I will not let my face fall upon you, for I am faithful love, says the LORD. I will not guard my anger forever.And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and his inward parts were moved, and he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.Who is a God like you, who lifts away crookedness and passes over the rebellion of the remnant of his inheritance? He does not grip his anger for the ages, for he delights in faithful love.THE THREAD
I will heal their turning away. I will love them freely, for the burning of my anger has turned from him.Hosea uses מְשׁוּבָה (meshubah, backsliding) from the same שׁוּב (shuv, turn or return) root as Isaiah’s “return.” The shared root links turning away and turning back, while Hosea names God’s response as healing and freely given love.
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