What Does Isaiah 62:7 Mean?
And give him no stillness, until he sets her firm and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
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
And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.THE KEY
The city is not only the object of praise: its restoration is complete when it itself becomes praise on earth.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the reader now as an unquiet measure of restoration: the work is not complete while Jerusalem is not established and made a praise in the earth. “Rest” carries the sense of silence, while “praise” names the city’s public condition; the city is not only praised but becomes praise. Jerusalem’s name echoes shalom (שָׁלוֹם, shalom: wholeness), so wholeness appears here as something made visible in the world.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that praise is only something spoken about a city: here the city itself is made praise.
THE ROOT
דֳמִי
domi
GROWS FROM
דמם
d-m-m
To be silent, still, or quiet.
“give him no stillness” in this verse is domi. The word translated “rest” carries the sense of silence or quiet. The previous verse uses this same word for “silence,” so the call to give God no rest continues the call to keep no silence until the city is established.
ALSO GROWS
damam: To be silent or still.
דָּמַם
This verb makes the “no rest” command sound like a refusal to let the appeal fall silent.
demamah: Stillness or quiet.
דְּמָמָה
This branch shows the quiet state that the verse’s urgent call refuses to settle into before Jerusalem is established.
יְכוֹנֵן
yekhonen
GROWS FROM
כון
k-w-n
To stand firm, be prepared, or be established.
“sets her firm” in this verse is yekhonen. The root makes establishment concrete: Jerusalem is made firm and set in place. Its becoming praise is tied to this firmness, not presented as a decorative label.
ALSO GROWS
nakhon: Firm, established, or ready.
נָכוֹן
This branch brings out the stability contained in the promise that Jerusalem will be established.
makon: A place or established dwelling.
מָכוֹן
This branch connects being established with having a place that is firmly set.
תְּהִלָּה
tehillah
GROWS FROM
הלל
h-l-l
To praise or celebrate.
Jerusalem is not merely praised; it is made a praise in the earth. The root turns praise from something said about the city into the identity the city bears.
ALSO GROWS
Tehillim: Praises; the Psalms.
תְּהִלִּים
This branch links Jerusalem’s identity as praise with a gathered body of praise.
Hallelujah: Praise Yah.
הַלְלוּיָהּ
This branch shows the same root calling praise into voice, while Isaiah 62:7 pictures a whole city becoming praise.
THE PATTERN
Restoration reaches its intended form when the city itself becomes a visible witness of praise.
Violence shall no more be heard in your land, neither pounding nor breaking within your borders; but you shall call your walls Deliverance, and your gates Praise.Weighty things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah.And I, John, see the set-apart city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, made ready as a bride arranged for her husband.THE THREAD
Violence shall no more be heard in your land, neither pounding nor breaking within your borders; but you shall call your walls Deliverance, and your gates Praise.The word “Praise” here is תְּהִלָּה (tehillah), the same word used in Isaiah 62:7 for Jerusalem becoming “a praise.” Isaiah 60 gives that name to the city’s gates; Isaiah 62 enlarges the image until Jerusalem itself bears that identity in the earth.
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