What Does Isaiah 1:22 Mean in the King James?
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse exposes dilution as a change in what a thing is, not a harmless addition.
THE MEANING
The verse names a present condition: what is precious has become waste, and what should be potent has been thinned. It speaks to the reader wherever degradation reaches the substance itself and dilution changes what the mixture can offer. The loss is real and visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that something keeps its full integrity simply because its original name remains.
THE ROOT
הָיוּ
hāyû
GROWS FROM
ה-י-ה
h-y-h
To be, become, or come to be.
הָיוּ (hāyû, “have become”) comes from היה (h-y-h, “be, become”), the same root that forms אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh, “I am / I will be”). The silver has come to be dross: the damage reaches its state of being, not only its surface.
ALSO GROWS
hayah: To be, become.
הָיָה
This form shows the root’s movement between being and becoming, which makes the silver’s change of state explicit.
ehyeh: I am; I will be.
אֶהְיֶה
The same root carries the sense of being into this self-naming; here it describes silver that has become dross.
מָהוּל
mahul
GROWS FROM
מ-ה-ל
m-h-l
To mix or dilute.
“mixed” in this verse is mahul. The root gives the wine a condition produced by mixture: it is diluted with מַיִם (mayim, “water”), not merely placed beside it. In this verse, mixing thins the wine’s potency rather than adding fullness.
ALSO GROWS
mahal: To mix, mingle, or dilute.
מָהַל
The verbal form names the action that changes the wine’s strength.
mahul: Mixed or diluted.
מָהוּל
This form names the resulting condition of the wine in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When valuable substance is degraded or thinned, its condition becomes visible through separation and testing.
Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.THE THREAD
Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.The same Hebrew noun סִיג (sîg, “dross”) appears in both verses. Isaiah names silver that has become dross; Proverbs pictures dross removed so a vessel can emerge, showing what separation can uncover.
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