What Does Isaiah 66:4 Mean?
I also will choose their straying, and I will bring upon them the terror they dwell in. Because I called, and none answered. When I spoke, they did not hear and respond. They did harm before my eyes, and chose what I did not delight in.
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
I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.THE KEY
The same Hebrew verb names both sides’ choosing, binding God’s choice of their delusions to their choice of what displeases God.
THE MEANING
A call can be refused and words can go unheard; the verse presents the chosen evil meeting God’s active judgment. God chooses their delusions and brings their fears upon them, so the consequences of their chosen path arrive as terror.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
I can refuse what is calling me and remain untouched by what I choose.
THE ROOT
אֶבְחַר
’evchar
GROWS FROM
בחר
To choose, select.
The root appears first in “I will choose” and again in “they chose.” That repetition binds their chosen course to the judgment named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
bachir: Chosen one.
בָּחִיר
The chosen person is named through the act of selection, making choice part of their description.
mivchar: Choice; selected or choice thing.
מִבְחָר
This noun names what has been selected, echoing how the verse connects a chosen course with what follows.
שָׁמֵעוּ
shame’u
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, heed.
“hear and respond” in this verse is shame’u. “They did not hear” follows “none did answer,” linking hearing with response. The root’s sense reaches beyond sound received to listening that answers.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; listen and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar command carries the responsive sense the verse says is absent.
shemu’ah: Report, message, or news heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names what reaches the ear as a message, sharpening the verse’s image of speech that goes unreceived.
קָרָאתִי
qara’ti
GROWS FROM
קרא
To call aloud, summon, proclaim, or read aloud.
“called” in this verse is qara’ti. The Hebrew root for calling also carries proclamation and reading aloud. The unanswered call is a voiced summons that reaches the ear but receives no response.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: Assembly or convocation; also a reading.
מִקְרָא
This branch carries the sense of people being called together, giving the call a public, summoning quality.
qeri’ah: Calling or reading aloud.
קְרִיאָה
It preserves the connection between calling and spoken words, matching the verse’s call followed by speech.
THE PATTERN
Repeatedly, refusal of a call gives way to being handed over to the course already chosen.
So I sent them away in the stiffness of their heart, and they walked in their own plans.And it happened, just as he called out and they would not hear and respond, so they called out and I would not hear and respond, says the LORD of hosts.And just as they did not see fit to hold God in their knowing, God gave them over to a mind that failed the test, to do what does not fit.THE THREAD
And it happened, just as he called out and they would not hear and respond, so they called out and I would not hear and respond, says the LORD of hosts.Isaiah’s “called” and Zechariah’s “cried” share the Hebrew root קרא (qara, to call aloud), while both verses pair the call with שמע (shama, to hear). Zechariah makes the echo stark: the unanswered call returns as an unanswered cry.
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