What Does Isaiah 66:23 Mean?
And it shall be, that from one new moon to the next, and from one sabbath to the next, all flesh will come to bow down before me, says the LORD.
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 it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.THE KEY
The moon’s renewal and the Sabbath’s stopping converge in one recurring scene: all flesh bowing before the LORD.
THE MEANING
You live within cycles of renewal and stopping; the verse places both inside a return to the LORD’s presence. It pictures all flesh, not a select group, coming before God in a bodily posture of reverence. This encounter returns with the new moon and the Sabbath.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that communion with God belongs only to a spiritual elite or a single exceptional moment dissolves here: the verse says all flesh comes, again and again.
THE ROOT
לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹת
le-hishtachavot
GROWS FROM
שחה
To bow down or prostrate oneself.
“bow down” in this verse is le-hishtachavot. The word translated “worship” names a bodily action: bowing down. With all flesh coming before the LORD, the verse pictures reverence as something embodied and shared, not merely an inward feeling.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: To bow down or prostrate oneself.
שָׁחָה
This verbal form makes the physical posture inside “worship” visible.
hishtachavah: To bow oneself down; to worship.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This form gives the action a reflexive shape: the worshipper bends down before another.
חֹדֶשׁ
chodesh
GROWS FROM
חדש
To be new or to renew.
The Hebrew word for “new moon” shares its root with “new” and “renew.” The gathering returns with the moon’s renewal, so the verse places worship inside a recurring beginning.
ALSO GROWS
chadash: New.
חָדָשׁ
The shared root links the new moon with newness itself.
chiddesh: Renew.
חִדֵּשׁ
This form makes explicit the renewing movement carried by the month’s name.
שַׁבָּת
shabbat
GROWS FROM
שבת
To cease or stop.
The Sabbath’s name carries cessation: a regular stopping is part of the passage’s approach to God. Alongside the moon’s renewal, this weekly pause makes the gathering a rhythm of return.
ALSO GROWS
shavat: To cease or stop.
שָׁבַת
This verb reveals the action carried in the Sabbath’s name.
shabbaton: A solemn rest or complete cessation.
שַׁבָּתוֹן
This related form emphasizes the Sabbath as an appointed pause.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s presence draws worship from peoples beyond any one community.
All the nations you made come and bow down before your face, O Lord, and give weight to your name.And every one left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem goes up from year to year to bow down to the King, the LORD of hosts, and to dance the Feast of Booths.Who will not stand in awe of you, Lord, and give weight to your name? For you alone are set apart, and all the nations come and bow down before your face, for your judgments are made visible.THE THREAD
All the nations you made come and bow down before your face, O Lord, and give weight to your name.Isaiah’s “all flesh” finds its parallel in “all nations whom thou hast made”: worship’s reach follows from the Creator’s making of them. Both passages use שחה (shachah, to bow down) for “worship,” so the shared action is embodied bowing before the LORD.
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