What Does Isaiah 66:18 Mean?
For I know their works and their thoughts. It is coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my weight.
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
For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.THE KEY
What is already known within becomes a shared sight: every nation and tongue comes to see the LORD’s weight.
THE MEANING
Works and thoughts alike lie open before God. The gathering reaches across every nation and language, bringing people together to see what carries God’s weight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only outward actions are seen: the verse places thoughts alongside works in what God knows.
THE ROOT
כְּבוֹדִי
kevodi
GROWS FROM
כ־ב־ד
K-B-D
To be heavy; to carry weight.
English “glory” can sound like splendor alone, while this root also carries the sense of weight and substance. The nations see what is weighty about God, not merely something bright to look at.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy; carrying weight.
כָּבֵד
This concrete sense gives “glory” the feel of substance and consequence.
kibbed: To honor or treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
The branch links seeing God’s glory with recognizing the weight that belongs to God.
THE PATTERN
God’s weight becomes visible beyond one people, drawing many peoples into shared witness.
Recount his weight among the nations; his wonders among all peoples.And the weight of the LORD is uncovered, and all flesh sees it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.After this I see, and look, a great crowd that no one can number, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wrapped in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.THE THREAD
And the weight of the LORD is uncovered, and all flesh sees it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.Both verses join seeing with the same Hebrew word for glory, rooted in the sense of weight. Isaiah 40:5 makes the shared sight explicit: all flesh sees the LORD’s glory together.
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