What Does Isaiah 10:12 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
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
A completed work does not absolve the power that carried it; the pride it bears still comes under the Lord’s notice.
THE MEANING
This verse holds the reader and every power to one measure: accomplishing a needed work does not make pride innocent. The fruit of an inflated heart comes into view, and the Lord attends to it when the work is complete.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being useful to a larger purpose excuses the arrogance that grows alongside that usefulness.
THE ROOT
אֶפְקֹד
ʾepqōd
GROWS FROM
פקד
p-q-d
Attend to, visit, oversee, or muster; in this judgment context, bring under notice and call to account.
The Hebrew verb translated “punish” also carries the sense of attending to or visiting. The king’s pride is something the Lord turns attention toward and holds to account; the task’s completion does not hide it.
ALSO GROWS
miphqād: Mustering, numbering, or census.
מִפְקָד
This branch evokes careful counting: the king’s deeds are not lost from view when the work is done.
pāqîd: Overseer or appointed official.
פָּקִיד
The root can describe someone placed in charge; here, the king himself is brought under the Lord’s attention.
יְבַצֵּעַ
yĕvatṣēaʿ
GROWS FROM
בצע
b-ṣ-ʿ
Cut off or bring to an end; in another branch of the root family, seek or take gain.
“performed” in this verse is yĕvatṣēaʿ. The Lord’s work is brought to completion before the king’s fruit is examined. This root family holds both finishing and gain, placing the completed task beside the pride and appetite exposed in its aftermath.
ALSO GROWS
bāṣaʿ: To cut off, finish, or bring to an end.
בָּצַע
This is the completion sense active in the verse: the Lord’s work reaches its limit before the king is called to account.
beṣaʿ: Gain or profit, sometimes ill-gotten gain.
בֶּצַע
This branch carries the language of grasping for gain, adding an echo of self-interest to the verse’s image of pride’s fruit.
רוּם עֵינָיו
rûm ʿênāw
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
Rise, be high, or be lifted up.
“High looks” makes elevation the image of the king’s pride: even his gaze is described through height. The same root can mean to lift or exalt, so the verse exposes self-elevation as part of what is brought under notice.
ALSO GROWS
rām: High or exalted.
רָם
This adjective makes the height in the king’s looks a condition of elevation, not merely a passing expression.
hērîm: Lifted or raised up.
הֵרִים
This causative form shows the root’s movement of lifting, illuminating the king’s self-raised posture.
THE PATTERN
Power may serve a real purpose, yet the pride it produces remains accountable.
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.THE THREAD
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.The Assyrian king’s “high looks” use רוּם (rûm, rise or be high), the same root behind “haughtiness” in Isaiah 2:11. Together the verses show that human height is brought low, while the LORD alone is exalted.
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