What Does Isaiah 56:4 Mean?
For thus says the LORD to the eunuchs who guard my sabbaths, who choose what I delight in, and take hold of my covenant.
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
For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;THE KEY
Here, covenant belonging is marked by what a eunuch guards, chooses, and holds, not by the ability to produce descendants.
THE MEANING
The reader is addressed as one who guards set-apart time, chooses what God delights in, and holds the covenant firmly. Being named a eunuch does not erase those acts or place this person outside the covenant life the verse describes. Their belonging is expressed through faithful attachment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that being a eunuch makes someone ineligible for covenant belonging.
THE ROOT
וּמַחֲזִיקִים
u-maḥaziqim
GROWS FROM
חזק
Be strong, become firm; in derived forms, strengthen or hold fast.
“take hold of” in this verse is u-maḥaziqim. The root adds firmness and resilience to the picture of holding fast. Covenant attachment is voiced in the same word-family as becoming strong.
ALSO GROWS
ḥazaq: Be strong; become firm.
חָזַק
The base form places the verse’s holding in the language of firmness.
heḥĕziq: Hold fast; take hold.
הֶחֱזִיק
This form shows the same root describing active, sustained holding.
ḥizzeq: Strengthen.
חִזֵּק
It links holding the covenant with the family of words for making strong.
יִשְׁמְרוּ
yishmeru
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
Guard, watch over, keep.
“guard” in this verse is yishmeru. The verb translated “keep” carries the sense of guarding and watchfulness. Sabbath keeping is pictured as active attention that protects what is set apart.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper; watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch names the person who watches over what is entrusted to them.
mishmeret: Charge; guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
It gives “keeping” the shape of an entrusted responsibility.
וּבָחֲרוּ
u-vacharu
GROWS FROM
בחר
Choose, select.
“choose what I delight in” in this verse is u-vacharu. The same root names the act of selecting and the state of being chosen. Joined to “the things that please me,” the verb presents this life as deliberate selection shaped by what God delights in.
ALSO GROWS
bachir: Chosen one; elect.
בָּחִיר
This branch describes someone marked by selection, echoing the deliberate choice in the verse.
mivchar: Choice; choicest selection.
מִבְחָר
It shows the root extending from the act of choosing to what is selected.
THE PATTERN
Belonging to God takes shape in chosen fidelity, and God’s welcome crosses boundaries that seem to define who can belong.
And the sons of the foreigner, who have attached themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one who guards the sabbath from being pierced, and takes hold of my covenant.I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.But in every nation the one who lives in awe of him and works alignment is received by him.THE THREAD
Strengthen the hands that have let go, and steady the knees that buckle.In Isaiah 35:3, “strengthen” comes from חזק (ḥazaq, be strong or firm), the same root beneath “take hold” in Isaiah 56:4. The root lets covenant holding and strengthening weak hands occupy one field of meaning: attachment is a form of firmness, even where strength is not presumed.
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