What Does Isaiah 63:14 Mean?
As a beast goes down into the valley, the breath of the LORD settled him down. So you led your people, to make yourself a name of 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
As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.THE KEY
The Hebrew holds wind, breath, and Spirit in one word, so the LORD’s moving breath is what settles the creature into rest.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s breath meets you in the descent and brings you to rest, while the same leading gathers you within a people. The name made splendid is the LORD’s nature becoming visible through that rest-bearing guidance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a descent means abandonment is unsettled here: the valley is where the LORD’s breath gives rest and the LORD’s guidance carries the people.
THE ROOT
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
רוח
ruach
Wind, breath, or spirit: air moving or breathed.
The Hebrew word רוּחַ (ruach, wind/breath/spirit) holds these meanings together where English separates them. Here, the LORD’s רוח (ruach, moving breath) is directly joined to bringing the creature to rest.
ALSO GROWS
ruach: Wind, breath, or spirit, the same word used in this verse.
רוּחַ
Its joined meanings let the LORD’s Spirit be heard as moving breath within the scene.
ruachot: Winds; moving air, and in some contexts spirits.
רוּחוֹת
The plural carries the same word into the many winds, keeping breath and movement connected.
תְּנִיחֶנּוּ
tenichennu
GROWS FROM
נוח
nuach
To rest, settle, or bring to rest.
“settled him down” in this verse is tenichennu. תְּנִיחֶנּוּ (tenichennu, bring him to rest) is causative: the LORD brings the creature into rest. The same root names rest itself and the act of settling, so the leading ends in a state the language recognizes as settled rest.
ALSO GROWS
menuchah: Rest or a resting place.
מְנוּחָה
This branch gives rest a place-like quality: the guided creature has somewhere to settle.
vattanach: And it rested or came to rest.
וַתָּנַח
Used when the ark comes to rest, this form echoes the verse’s picture of a journey reaching a settled place.
תִּפְאֶרֶת
tiferet
GROWS FROM
פאר
pa’ar
To adorn, beautify, or make splendid.
The Hebrew phrase is a name of תִּפְאֶרֶת (tiferet, splendor), so the outcome is more than renown: the LORD’s nature becomes visible in splendor. The root’s language of adornment adds the sense of beauty made manifest.
ALSO GROWS
pa’ar: To adorn, beautify, or glorify.
פָּאַר
This verb shows splendor as something made visible, matching the verse’s purpose in the LORD’s leading.
pe’er: Adornment or an ornament.
פְּאֵר
This branch links the name’s splendor to beauty that can be seen.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s guidance carries people through difficulty into rest, making the LORD’s nature visible in the outcome.
He lays me down in green pastures; he leads me beside resting waters.In your faithful love you led this people you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to your set-apart dwelling.Come to me, all you who toil and have been loaded down, and I will give you rest.THE THREAD
To them he said, This is the setting down, set the weary down; and this is the stillness; but they would not hear and respond.Both verses use the נוח (nuach, rest/settling) root for rest and bringing someone to rest. Together they show rest as both a settled place and an action that brings the weary into it.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us