What Does Isaiah 59:20 Mean?
And the redeemer shall come to Zion, to those who turn from rebellion in Jacob, declares the LORD.
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 the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.THE KEY
The Redeemer reclaims the broken bond, and the verse joins that reclaiming to a turning back from rebellion.
THE MEANING
The Redeemer comes to Zion, and his reclaiming presence meets those turning from rebellion. The reader now sees rupture named plainly, while return and redemption remain part of the same living movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that rebellion places someone beyond return is undone here: the verse names a turning back and the Redeemer who reclaims.
THE ROOT
גֹּאֵל
go’el
GROWS FROM
גאל
gā’al
To redeem or reclaim, especially by acting as a near relative.
The Redeemer is more than someone who pays a price: the word carries the sense of a kinsman reclaiming what has been estranged. The verse presents redemption as the restoration of belonging.
ALSO GROWS
gā’al: Redeem, reclaim
גָּאַל
The verb shows the action carried by the Redeemer: what is estranged is reclaimed.
ge’ullāh: Redemption; the right of redemption
גְּאֻלָּה
This branch names redemption as a recognized path back to what belongs within the family bond.
שָׁבֵי
shāvē
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
To return or turn back.
“turn” in this verse is shāvē. The word for turning carries movement back, not merely a change of opinion. Its root can also name turning away, so return answers a real departure.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Return, turn back
שׁוּב
This is the basic movement expressed by those turning from rebellion.
meshūvāh: Turning away; backsliding
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can name the drift away, making the return in this verse a reversal of that movement.
פֶּשַׁע
peshaʿ
GROWS FROM
פשע
pāshaʿ
To rebel or break away.
The word holds the weight of rebellion and rupture, not only an isolated misstep. Set beside the root for return, it reveals a movement from breaking away toward reclaimed belonging.
ALSO GROWS
pāshaʿ: Rebel, break away
פָּשַׁע
The verb exposes the relational rupture carried by the noun in this verse.
pōshēaʿ: One who rebels
פֹּשֵׁעַ
This branch names a person by the act of rebellion, while the verse also leaves room for that person to turn back.
THE PATTERN
Scripture joins divine reclaiming with a return from rupture.
I have wiped away your rebellions like a thick cloud, and your missed marks like a cloud. Turn back to me, for I have bought you back.Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he has redeemed from the hand of the one who presses.And so all Israel will be delivered, just as it is written, The one who brings out will come from Zion, and will turn away the absence of awe from Jacob.THE THREAD
I have wiped away your rebellions like a thick cloud, and your missed marks like a cloud. Turn back to me, for I have bought you back.The verse brings together פְּשָׁעֶיךָ (peshaʿekha, your rebellions), שׁוּבָה (shuvah, return), and גְּאַלְתִּיךָ (ge’altikha, I have redeemed you), the same roots of rupture, turning, and reclaiming found here. Rebellion is fully named, yet it does not become the final identity: return and redemption stand beside it.
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