What Does Isaiah 60:16 Mean?
You shall suckle on the milk of nations, and suckle at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Deliverer and your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
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
Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.THE KEY
The kings’ power is pictured as nurture, while the LORD is named as the one who delivers and reclaims you.
THE MEANING
You are pictured receiving sustenance through peoples and rulers beyond your own reach. Their presence leads you to recognize the LORD as the one who brings you out and reclaims you as kin. Jacob’s name carries the heel-grasper image, so divine might meets you in the midst of struggle.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that being forsaken means being cut off from all provision is undone: you are pictured receiving nourishment, and the LORD is named your deliverer and redeemer.
THE ROOT
מוֹשִׁיעֵךְ
moshi'ekh
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁע
yashaʿ
To deliver or rescue, bringing someone into safety and room to live.
“Deliverer” in this verse is moshi'ekh. Here the title names more than rescue from danger: it carries the movement into safety. Set beside Redeemer, deliverance becomes both being brought out and being restored to belonging.
ALSO GROWS
yeshu'ah: Deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun names the deliverance embodied by the title: the LORD is the one who brings it about.
hoshi'a: He delivered or rescued
הוֹשִׁיעַ
This verb makes the root an active bringing-out, not merely a status.
גֹּאֲלֵךְ
go'aleikh
GROWS FROM
גָּאַל
ga'al
To reclaim or redeem, often with the closeness of kinship.
“redeemer” in this verse is go'aleikh. The title moves from being delivered to being reclaimed as one who belongs. Jacob (יַעֲקֹב, Ya’aqov), linked with עָקֵב (aqev, heel) and the heel-grasper image, names a life marked by struggle; the verse calls the LORD mighty in relation to that life.
ALSO GROWS
go'el: A redeemer or close kinsman who reclaims
גֹּאֵל
This is the same role named for the LORD here: the one who acts to bring back what belongs.
ge'ullah: Redemption or reclamation
גְּאֻלָּה
This branch names the act of reclaiming, opening the title into a lived return to belonging.
וְיָנַקְתְּ
veyanaqt
GROWS FROM
יָנַק
yanaq
To suckle or nurse; to receive nourishment.
“suckle on” in this verse is veyanaqt. The verb appears twice around milk and breast, making the promised turn bodily and immediate: you are being fed. A related noun can mean a suckling or tender shoot, linking nourishment with life in its vulnerable first growth.
ALSO GROWS
yoneq: A suckling or tender shoot
יֹנֵק
The word joins a young life receiving nourishment with a tender new growth.
he'eniq: To nurse or cause to suckle
הֵינִיק
This form emphasizes nourishment being given to another.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD reclaims the forsaken, peoples and rulers become part of provision and restored belonging.
And kings shall be your steadying fathers, and their princesses your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. You will perceive that I am the LORD, for those who stretch toward me will not be ashamed.Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he has redeemed from the hand of the one who presses.And the nations of the delivered walk by its light, and the kings of the earth carry their weight and honor into it.THE THREAD
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he has redeemed from the hand of the one who presses.The Redeemer here is גֹּאֵל (go’el, one who reclaims); Psalm 107:2 uses the same גָּאַל (ga’al, reclaim or redeem) root for people brought out from an enemy’s hand. The title becomes concrete: the LORD’s reclaiming reaches into the grip that holds you.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us