What Does Isaiah 12:6 Mean in the King James?
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
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 cry does not summon God’s greatness; it gives voice to the Holy One already present within the community.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you as an inhabitant of Zion: the Holy One of Israel is great in your midst. The shout rises from recognizing that presence already here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s greatness is distant or must arrive after you call; the verse grounds the cry in a nearness already present.
THE ROOT
בְּקִרְבֵּךְ
beqirbekh
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
To approach or draw near; as qereb, the inner part or midst.
The Hebrew word means “in your midst,” while its root family also carries the sense of drawing near. Nearness here is not only closeness from outside: the Holy One is present within the community, and its shout answers that presence.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: Approach, draw near.
קָרַב
This branch makes the nearness in “your midst” active: the verse speaks of presence that has come near.
qorban: Drawing near; an offering that brings one near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch shares the root’s movement toward nearness, illuminating how the verse locates the Holy One within rather than far away.
THE PATTERN
The Holy One’s presence within a community steadies its life and gives voice to its joy.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.Isaiah’s “in the midst” and Psalm’s “in the midst” use the same Hebrew root, ק־ר־ב (q-r-b), which holds both inwardness and nearness. Psalm 46 shows this presence grounding a community’s steadiness; Isaiah gives that same nearness a voice of joy.
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