What Does Isaiah 8:18 Mean?
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for marks and for wonders in Israel, from the LORD of hosts, who pitches his tent on Mount Zion.
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
Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.THE KEY
The verse makes the sign a relationship: the speaker and the children given to him embody what the LORD is showing Israel.
THE MEANING
The speaker and the children the LORD gives are themselves signs and wonders among Israel. Their presence makes the LORD of hosts, who dwells in Zion, perceptible in the life of the people. The sign is relational: a speaker, children, and the giver are named together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A divine sign must be an event detached from human life; here, the people themselves are called signs and wonders.
THE ROOT
הַיְלָדִים
hayeladim
GROWS FROM
ילד
to bear or beget
The word rendered “children” carries the seed of being brought forth. Its branch תּוֹלְדוֹת (toledot, generations) lets the word reach beyond an age category toward a continuing lineage.
ALSO GROWS
yalad: to bear, beget
יָלַד
The children are named through the same root as the act of bringing life forth.
toledot: generations, lineage
תּוֹלְדוֹת
This branch extends the root from those brought forth to the generations that follow.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
to give, set, place
The children are described by their relation to what the LORD gives. The root also forms words for a gift and for “those given,” keeping the source of the sign in view: the children are part of a relationship of giving and receiving.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
The shared root connects the children given to the speaker with the language of a gift.
nethinim: those given; temple servants
נְתִינִים
This word for “those given” carries the same root, echoing how the verse identifies the children by what the LORD gives.
THE PATTERN
A person’s life can itself make a divine message visible.
And the LORD said, As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years, a sign and a wonder upon Egypt and upon Cush.Say, I am a sign for you. As I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into the uncovering.And Simeon spoke good over them, and said to Mary his mother, Look, this one is laid for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against.THE THREAD
And again, I will lean my weight on him. And again, Look, I and the children God has given me.Hebrews repeats the distinctive image of the speaker and the children God has given, linking this verse directly to its own witness. The wording keeps the children within the speaker’s testimony; they are not incidental to the sign.
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