What Does Isaiah 61:6 Mean?
But you shall be named the ones who stand before the LORD; they shall call you the attendants of our God; you shall eat the strength of the nations, and in their weight you shall praise yourselves.
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
But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.THE KEY
The people are named for service, yet the verse joins that calling to the nations’ wealth and weight.
THE MEANING
You are named as the LORD’s priests and called ministers of God: your identity is public service. The verse pictures you fed by the wealth of the nations, with their honor becoming weight you share. It joins vocation with material provision and public standing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being set apart for service means remaining nameless, poor, or socially diminished: here service is joined to provision and shared honor.
THE ROOT
בִּכְבוֹדָם
bikhvodam
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be heavy or weighty; the root carries into honor and glory as weight.
The “glory” of the nations is their weight: their honor, standing, and substance. The verse says that weight becomes something this people shares, not merely something they watch from afar.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty
כָּבֵד
This basic sense reveals the tangible force beneath the English word “glory.”
kavod: Honor, glory, weight
כָּבוֹד
This is the word in the verse; its sense of weight gives the nations’ glory substance and consequence.
חֵיל
cheil
GROWS FROM
חיל
Strength, force, or capacity.
The word rendered “riches” belongs to a Hebrew word family that also names strength and force. The nations’ wealth is presented as their collective capacity, which this people receives as sustenance.
ALSO GROWS
chayil: Strength, valor, force
חַיִל
It shows the strength-bearing sense within the word family behind “riches.”
cheil: Wealth, resources, host
חֵיל
This form in the verse can carry both resources and collective force, widening “riches” beyond money alone.
מְשָׁרְתֵי
mesharthei
GROWS FROM
שרת
To attend or serve.
“attendants” in this verse is mesharthei. The verse pairs being named as priests with a word rooted in service. The title carries a vocation of attending to God, while the same verse places that vocation beside abundance and honor.
ALSO GROWS
mesharet: Attendant, minister
מְשָׁרֵת
It makes the service in “Ministers of our God” concrete as attending or serving.
sherut: Service
שֵׁרוּת
This related form makes explicit that the identity named here is bound to service.
THE PATTERN
Restoration turns a shamed people into a publicly named people whose service carries honor and abundance.
Instead of your shame you shall have double, and in their disgrace they shall shout over their portion; therefore in their land they shall possess double, the joy of the ages shall be theirs.And you shall be to me a governance of priests and a set-apart nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people made his own, so that you may tell out the excellences of the one who called you out of darkness into his wondrous light.THE THREAD
And you shall be to me a governance of priests and a set-apart nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.Both verses use כֹּהֲנִים (kōhanim, priests), the Hebrew word for priests. Exodus names a people as a priestly kingdom; Isaiah gives that shared identity a public consequence in provision and honor.
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