What Does Isaiah 57:15 Mean?
For thus says the high and lifted one, who dwells in the ages, whose nature is set apart. I dwell in the high and set-apart place, and with the crushed and the low of breath, to revive the breath of the low, and to revive the heart of the crushed ones.
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 high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.THE KEY
The same divine dwelling that fills eternity is present beside the crushed.
THE MEANING
The One dwelling beyond every height is present with the crushed and lowly reader now. His nearness revives breath and heart, restoring life within the person who is pressed down.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a crushed, low person is abandoned by the Most High dissolves here: the verse places his dwelling beside that person.
THE ROOT
שֹׁכֵן
shokhen
GROWS FROM
שכן
sh-k-n
Settle, dwell, remain.
“dwells in the ages” in this verse is shokhen. The KJV’s “inhabiteth” and “I dwell” translate forms of the same Hebrew root. That single dwelling is placed in eternity, in the holy height, and beside the crushed, folding divine transcendence and nearness into one act.
ALSO GROWS
shakan: Dwell, settle.
שָׁכַן
This verb names the act repeated in the verse’s opening and later declaration.
mishkan: Dwelling place; tabernacle.
מִשְׁכָּן
The dwelling place carries the same root, making a place of presence from the act of dwelling.
shakhen: Neighbor; one who dwells nearby.
שָׁכֵן
The word for neighbor grows from dwelling, echoing the nearness expressed in God’s dwelling with the lowly.
דַּכָּא
dakka
GROWS FROM
דכא
d-k-ʾ
Crush, break down, beat down.
“crushed and low of breath” in this verse is dakka. The word translated “contrite” carries the image of being crushed or broken down. Its return as “contrite ones” makes the promise concrete: the crushed are the ones whose hearts are made alive.
ALSO GROWS
dakka: Crushed; broken down.
דַּכָּא
This form describes the person beside whom the Most High dwells.
nidka'im: Crushed ones.
נִדְכָּאִים
The verse repeats this root at its close, naming the crushed as recipients of revived hearts.
לְהַחֲיוֹת
lehaḥayot
GROWS FROM
חיה
ḥ-y-h
Live, be alive; in a causative form, make alive.
The verb translated “revive” is a causative form of חיה, “live”: it means to make alive. Repeated over breath and heart, it describes life returning within the lowly person.
ALSO GROWS
chai: Living; alive.
חַי
This adjective shares the life-root behind the act of reviving.
chayyim: Life.
חַיִּים
The promise of revival grows from the same root as life itself.
THE PATTERN
The Most High’s presence reaches the broken and lowly, where life is restored.
The LORD is near to those whose heart is broken, and delivers those crushed in breath.He mends the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.THE THREAD
And let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.Exodus uses the same שכן root as Isaiah’s “inhabiteth” and “I dwell”: God’s presence is described as dwelling among people. Isaiah sharpens that shared-dwelling image by placing it beside the contrite and lowly person, joining the immense and the intimate in one pattern.
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