What Does Isaiah 60:7 Mean?
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you, and the rams of Nebaioth shall attend you; they shall come up with favor upon my altar, and I will adorn the house of my adornment.
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
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.THE KEY
Hebrew repeats one root for the house’s splendor and God’s act of making it splendid, so divine glory arrives as beauty bestowed on the house.
THE MEANING
What is far away gathers toward you; its strength becomes service, and its offering rises in welcome. The house of divine splendor is being made splendid, as what arrives is received into a dwelling of beauty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what comes from far away cannot belong in the sacred: here, the distant flocks are gathered, serve, and rise on the altar in acceptance.
THE ROOT
תִּפְאַרְתִּי
tif'arti
GROWS FROM
פָּאַר
pa'ar
To adorn, beautify, or make splendid.
“adorn” in this verse is tif'arti. English separates “glory” from “glorify,” but both words here grow from פאר. The verse says, in effect, “the house of my splendor I will make splendid,” presenting glory as beauty made visible in the house.
ALSO GROWS
tif'eret: Splendor, beauty.
תִּפְאֶרֶת
This noun belongs to the same root as the house’s “glory” in the verse.
pe'er: Adornment, headdress, beauty.
פְּאֵר
Isaiah 61:3 uses this word for the beauty given in place of ashes, making splendor concrete.
רָצוֹן
ratzon
GROWS FROM
רצה
ratsah
To be pleased with, accept, or favor.
Ratzon carries the sense of favor and pleasure as well as acceptance. The offering’s ascent and its welcome belong together: it rises on the altar as something received with favor.
ALSO GROWS
ratsah: To be pleased with, accept.
רָצָה
This verb shares the root of “acceptance,” linking acceptance with being received favorably.
ratzui: Pleasing, acceptable.
רָצוּי
This related form shows the same root describing what is welcomed.
THE PATTERN
What is gathered under God’s presence becomes shared service, an offering, and a dwelling.
When the peoples gather together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.And not for that nation only, but that he would also gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.You also, as living stones, are built up into a house of breath, a set-apart priesthood, to carry up sacrifices of breath, well received by God through Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
To set for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a headdress in place of ash, the oil of leaping for mourning, the garment of praise in place of a dimmed breath; that they might be called oaks of alignment, the planting of the LORD, that he might be adorned.The word translated “beauty,” פְּאֵר (pe’er), shares the root פאר with “splendor” and “I will glorify” in Isaiah 60:7. Together, the verses show glory as adornment made visible: beauty takes the place of ashes, and the house is made splendid.
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