What Does Isaiah 6:8 Mean?
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am; send me.
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
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.THE KEY
The Hebrew שָׁלַח (shalach, “send forth/release”) makes “send me” both an answer to the call and a release into motion.
THE MEANING
The voice reaches you with a question, and your presence becomes the answer before the destination is named. “Here am I” is not yet the journey; it is the point from which the sending begins.
THE ROOT
שָׁלַח
shalach
GROWS FROM
שלח
Send forth, release, let go.
English can make “send” sound like simple dispatch, while שָׁלַח (shalach, “send forth/release”) also carries the sense of letting go. Isaiah’s answer is both availability and movement: he is released into going.
ALSO GROWS
shilleach: Send away, release.
שִׁלֵּחַ
This form makes the letting-go within the sending explicit.
shaliach: One sent; an emissary.
שָׁלִיחַ
The sent one carries the sender’s purpose beyond the place where the call is heard.
יֵלֶךְ
yelek
GROWS FROM
הלך
Walk, go, proceed.
“go” in this verse is yelek. The question pairs being sent with going: the one released is also the one who steps into the way. The Hebrew verb can hold walking and going together, giving the answer a course of movement rather than a single departure.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: Walk, go.
הָלַךְ
This verb’s shared range keeps walking and going within one word-family.
holekh: One who walks or goes.
הוֹלֵךְ
The branch names a person in motion, echoing the one who answers the call.
שָׁמַעְתִּי
shama'ti
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed.
“heard” in this verse is shama'ti. Here, hearing does not remain a private sensation: the next words are an answer of availability. The Hebrew word can carry attentive listening toward response, and the verse lets that connection unfold in sequence.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; listen and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar imperative shows how hearing can call for an answering response.
shemuah: A report, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch keeps the sense of a message received within the same word-family.
THE PATTERN
A call moves from hearing to presence, and from presence into being sent.
And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am.And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.And how will they herald unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!THE THREAD
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.Isaiah 55:11 uses שָׁלַח (shalach, “send forth/release”) for the word God sends, a release that carries purpose into the world. Isaiah 6:8 places the answering person within that same movement: “send me.”
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