What Does Isaiah 65:15 Mean?
And you will leave your name as an oath for my chosen, and the Lord GOD will kill you, and he will call his servants by another name.
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 ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:THE KEY
A name can outlive its bearer as a curse, while the LORD’s call gives his servants another nature to live under.
THE MEANING
This verse confronts you with the afterlife of a name: the LORD slays the one whose name remains as a curse among his chosen, then calls his servants by another name. The judgment is not softened, and neither is the change of identity, the old name remains in public speech while the LORD gives his servants another.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the name attached to you fixes your identity dissolves here: the LORD calls his servants by another name. Yet the verse keeps its hard edge: the judged are slain, and their name remains as a curse.
THE ROOT
שֵׁם
shem
GROWS FROM
שׂים
To set or place; shem is associated with what sets a person in public notice, their designation and renown.
A name is more than a label: it is the identity that remains in public speech after the bearer is gone. The verse holds the same word in two conditions, a name that becomes a curse and another name given by the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
shem: Name, renown, reputation
שֵׁם
The name remains among the chosen as a curse even after its bearer is slain.
sim: Set, place
שׂים
The association suggests a name as what sets a person into public view and memory.
קָרָא
qara
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־א
q-r-ʾ
To call aloud, proclaim, or read.
Qara makes the act public: to call is also to proclaim. The new name is not merely private reassurance; it is a changed identity voiced by the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qeri’ah: Calling, reading
קְרִיאָה
It carries the same movement of voicing words aloud that makes a name known.
miqra: Proclamation, reading; assembly
מִקְרָא
A name proclaimed can gather public memory around the identity it carries.
שְׁבוּעָה
shevuah
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ב־ע
sh-b-ʿ
To swear; an oath or sworn declaration.
“leave your name as an oath” in this verse is shevuah. The Hebrew word rendered “curse” here is shevuah, an oath: the name becomes a formula spoken among the chosen. Its memory stays active as a sworn warning rather than simply disappearing.
ALSO GROWS
nishba: Swore, took an oath
נִשְׁבַּע
It shows the spoken, binding force carried by the name left behind.
shevuah: Oath
שְׁבוּעָה
The name is preserved in speech as an invoked formula among the chosen.
THE PATTERN
A name carries public identity, and the LORD can give a person or people a new one.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And the nations shall see your alignment, and all kings your weight; and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.The one who has an ear, let him hear and respond to what the breath says to the assemblies. To the one who overcomes I will give to eat from the hidden manna, and I will give him a white pebble, and upon the pebble a new name written, which no one knows except the one who takes it.THE THREAD
And the nations shall see your alignment, and all kings your weight; and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.Both verses place קרא (qara, to call or proclaim) beside שֵׁם (shem, name as nature). Here a name remains as a curse; Isaiah 62:2 shows the LORD calling his people by a new name.
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