What Does Isaiah 65:22 Mean?
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.
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
They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.THE KEY
The Hebrew behind “long enjoy” carries the sense of wearing out: the chosen ones live with their work until they have used it fully.
THE MEANING
You are shown a life where building leads to your own dwelling and planting to your own food. Your days stretch alongside a tree’s, and your hands’ work stays with you long enough to be used and worn by life. Labor, shelter, food, and longevity belong to the same life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that your work is always taken from you before you can live from it dissolves here: you inhabit what you build and eat what you plant.
THE ROOT
יְבַלּוּ
yeballu
GROWS FROM
בלה
Wear out, grow old; in this verse, live with and use something to its fullness.
“wear out the work of their hands” in this verse is yeballu. The verb behind “long enjoy” shares a root with wearing out and growing old. The image is of people living with the work of their hands long enough to use it fully, rather than having its fruit pass to another.
ALSO GROWS
yivlu: They wear out or grow old.
יִבְלוּ
Isaiah 50:9 uses this form for garments growing old; here, the chosen ones’ long lives let them use what their hands have made.
baltah: It wore out or grew old.
בָּלְתָה
Deuteronomy 8:4 uses this form of clothing that does not wear out, keeping the root’s image of endurance over time close to Isaiah’s promise.
יֵשֵׁב
yeshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
Sit, settle, dwell.
The word translated “inhabit” also means to sit or settle. The loss in “another inhabit” is someone else taking the settled place; the promise joins the builders to the life their building supports.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: Sit, dwell, remain.
יָשַׁב
The basic verb makes inhabiting a settled presence, not merely passing through a building.
moshav: Dwelling place, settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This noun from the same root gives the verse’s dwelling a sense of an established home where life continues.
THE PATTERN
A restored life keeps a person’s labor joined to the dwelling, food, and good it produces.
And also, every human eats and drinks, and sees good in all his toil. This is the giving of God.For you eat the weariness of your palms; flourishing is yours, and goodness is yours.So then, my beloved brothers, be steady, unmoved, always overflowing in the work of the Lord, seeing that your toil is not empty in the Lord.THE THREAD
You shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, and you shall not settle in it. You shall plant a vineyard, and you shall not eat of it.Deuteronomy names the same loss: you build, but another dwells; you plant, but another gathers. Isaiah turns that arrangement around, the builder inhabits, and the planter receives the harvest.
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