What Does Isaiah 62:8 Mean?
The LORD has bound himself by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, saying, Surely I will no more give your grain as food for your enemies; and the sons of the foreigner shall not drink your new wine, for which you have toiled.
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 LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured:THE KEY
The oath binds strength to end the transfer of your labor’s fruit to those who oppose you.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the ache of seeing what you have worked for consumed by forces against you. The LORD swears by his hand and strength that this taking will end: what your labor produces is no longer handed over to your enemies.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that whatever you build or grow will inevitably be consumed by people who oppose you.
THE ROOT
מַאֲכָל
ma'akhal
GROWS FROM
אכל
ʾ-k-l
eat, consume
English separates “food” from the act of eating, but מַאֲכָל (ma’akhal, food) carries that act inside the word. Your grain is pictured as something being consumed, and Isaiah 65:22 uses this same root when it says another will no longer eat what you planted.
ALSO GROWS
ʾakhal: to eat or consume
אָכַל
The food in this verse is tied to the act of consuming it; the question is who gets to eat the harvest.
ʾokhel: one who eats
אֹכֵל
The root can name the one consuming, sharpening the verse’s contrast between your enemies and those who labor.
אֶתֵּן
ʾetten
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, set, place
The verb אֶתֵּן (ʾetten, I will give) names the transfer itself: the harvest is placed into someone else’s hands to become their food. The oath promises that this giving to the enemy will cease.
ALSO GROWS
mattan: a gift
מַתָּן
The same root can describe something given; here, the verse marks the end of a transfer that benefits your enemies.
netinah: the act of giving
נְתִינָה
This branch makes the action explicit: the verse’s promise concerns who receives what your work has produced.
THE PATTERN
The fruit of labor belongs with those who labor, rather than being consumed by someone else.
They will not build and another settle; they will not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree are the days of my people, and my chosen will wear out the work of their hands.For you eat the weariness of your palms; flourishing is yours, and goodness is yours.Who ever serves as a soldier on his own rations? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who shepherds a flock and does not eat of the flock's milk?THE THREAD
They will not build and another settle; they will not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree are the days of my people, and my chosen will wear out the work of their hands.Isaiah 62:8 calls the grain מַאֲכָל (ma’akhal, food), from אכל (ʾ-k-l, eat); Isaiah 65:22 uses that same root for “eat.” Here the harvest is consumed by enemies, while the companion verse says another will no longer eat what you planted.
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