What Does Isaiah 10:20 Mean in the King James?

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

Isaiah 10:20 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Escape becomes restoration when the survivor stops leaning on the one who caused the wound.

THE MEANING

You can be beyond the reach of what wounded you and still be leaning on it for support. This verse names a deeper change: your weight no longer rests on the one who struck you, but on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this verse undoes is: “The one who hurt me is still the only one who can keep me safe.”

THE ROOT

לְהִשָּׁעֵן

lehisha'en

GROWS FROM

שׁען

sh-ʿ-n

To lean, support oneself, or rely.

“Stay upon” sounds static in English, but the Hebrew pictures placing your weight onto a support. The verse makes that dependence the hinge of change: the survivor’s weight comes off the smiter and rests on the LORD.

ALSO GROWS

mish'an: Support or stay.

מִשְׁעָן

This branch names what the verse’s image of leaning requires: something that bears your weight.

mish'enet: Staff or support.

מִשְׁעֶנֶת

A staff makes the root’s image tangible; the verse reveals that reliance is like putting your weight onto what holds you up.

THE PATTERN

Restoration appears when reliance shifts away from what wounds or fails you and onto a support that can bear your weight.

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 · KJVThe same Hebrew root for “stay upon” appears as “lean,” making reliance a matter of where your weight rests.

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Psalm 118:8 · KJVThe verse names the same transfer of reliance away from human support and toward the LORD.

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

2 Corinthians 1:9 · KJVDependence moves away from the self as its own support and rests in God, who gives life.

THE THREAD

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 · KJV

The Hebrew root behind “lean” is the same one translated “stay upon” in Isaiah. Both verses picture weight resting somewhere: Isaiah names the support the survivor leaves behind, while Proverbs shows that even your own understanding cannot carry all of it.

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