What Does Isaiah 57:14 Mean?
And it shall be said, Heap up, heap up, clear the way, lift up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.
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 shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.THE KEY
The way opens as the road is raised and the thing that makes the people fall is lifted out of their path.
THE MEANING
A way is being made passable for the people: the road is raised, the route is cleared, and the stumblingblock is removed from where they walk. The obstruction is something that can be lifted out of their passage.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that moving forward requires the people to force their way through every obstruction; here, what makes them stumble is removed from their path.
THE ROOT
פַּנּוּ
pannu
GROWS FROM
פנה
To turn or face; in this form, to clear away and make ready.
“clear the way” in this verse is pannu. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of clearing a route, so preparation means making room for passage. That clearing leads directly into the command to lift the stumblingblock from the people’s way.
ALSO GROWS
panah: Turn, face, or turn aside.
פָּנָה
The base verb shows the root’s movement: what occupies the route can be turned aside.
pinnah: Corner or corner place.
פִּנָּה
This spatial branch carries the sense of a turn in a route, giving the clearing image a concrete place.
סֹלּוּ
sollu
GROWS FROM
סלל
To raise or heap up.
“heap up” in this verse is sollu. The repeated command uses a root associated with raising a road, so making a way is pictured as material work: the route itself is built up. This elevation joins the clearing of the path as part of making passage possible.
ALSO GROWS
mesillah: Highway or raised road.
מְסִלָּה
This related word names the kind of built-up route the command evokes.
solelah: Ramp or raised mound.
סֹלְלָה
The same root can describe a raised structure, making the road-building image tangible.
מִכְשׁוֹל
mikshol
GROWS FROM
כשל
To stumble, totter, or fall.
“stumblingblock” in this verse is mikshol. The root keeps the fall inside the name of the obstacle: this is something that makes a step fail. The verse locates that fall-producing force in the path, where it can be lifted clear.
ALSO GROWS
kashal: Stumble, totter, or fall.
כָּשַל
The verb names the movement the stumblingblock brings about.
hikhshil: Cause to stumble or make someone fall.
הִכְשִׁיל
This causative form makes explicit the link between the obstacle and the fall it produces.
THE PATTERN
A passage becomes passable as the way is raised and what makes the feet stumble is cleared.
Go through, go through the gates; clear the way for the people; heap up, heap up the highway; gather out the stones; lift a banner for the people.You widen my steps beneath me, and my ankles do not slip.Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.THE THREAD
Go through, go through the gates; clear the way for the people; heap up, heap up the highway; gather out the stones; lift a banner for the people.Isaiah 62:10 repeats the same root סלל (s-l-l), translated cast up, and then names stones to be gathered away. Together, the verses make a single roadwork sequence visible: raise the passage and clear what causes a fall.
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