What Does Isaiah 60:6 Mean?
A flood of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba shall come, carrying gold and frankincense, and they shall proclaim the praises of 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
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.THE KEY
The caravan’s wealth arrives with a voice: its final gift is an announcement of the LORD’s praise.
THE MEANING
Abundance gathers around you, carrying visible gifts and a spoken witness. The verse joins what arrives with what is proclaimed about the LORD: praise becomes public news.
THE ROOT
יְבַשֵּׂרוּ
yəḇaśśərū
GROWS FROM
בשר
To announce or bring news, often good tidings.
“proclaim” in this verse is yəḇaśśərū. The verb translated “shew forth” carries the sense of announcing news. The arriving gifts come with a public message: the praise of the LORD is something proclaimed.
ALSO GROWS
good tidings: Good news or tidings.
בְּשׂוֹרָה
This noun from the same root makes the announcement in the verse sound like news being carried into the open.
mevaser: A bearer or herald of news.
מְבַשֵּׂר
The branch names the voice behind the verb: the gifts arrive through messengers who announce.
לְבוֹנָה
ləḇōnāh
GROWS FROM
לבן
Whiteness; to be white.
“frankincense” in this verse is ləḇōnāh. The Hebrew word for incense carries the root for whiteness. That same root is heard in Lebanon’s name, traditionally connected with its pale, snow-covered mountains, so the gift’s name retains a visual quality English leaves unstated.
ALSO GROWS
white: White.
לָבָן
This is the root’s basic color sense, present inside the Hebrew word for incense.
Lebanon: Lebanon, a name traditionally linked to whiteness.
לְבָנוֹן
The place name shares the whiteness root carried by the incense brought in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When nations draw near to God’s reign, they carry gifts and public witness.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard, who brings good news of good, who makes deliverance heard, who says to Zion, Your God governs.The kings of Tarshish and the coastlands return a tribute, and the kings of Sheba and Seba draw near with gifts.And they carry the weight and the honor of the nations into it.THE THREAD
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, who makes wholeness heard, who brings good news of good, who makes deliverance heard, who says to Zion, Your God governs.Isaiah 60:6 uses בשר (bāśar, announce or bring tidings) in “they shall shew forth,” and Isaiah 52:7 uses the same root in “bringeth good tidings.” The shared root makes the arriving praise sound like public news: “Thy God reigneth!”
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