What Does Isaiah 13:1 Mean in the King James?
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
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
Babylon enters the vision as a burden: what seems to dominate is already exposed to be weighed.
THE MEANING
This verse brings Babylon’s weight into view now: what dominates the scene is named and exposed as a burden. The vision makes a power that seems immense something you can see and weigh.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Babylon’s apparent permanence does not put it beyond judgment; the prophetic burden already places its weight in view.
THE ROOT
מַשָּׂא
massa
GROWS FROM
נָשָׂא
nasa
to lift, carry, or bear
The Hebrew word can mean both a burden and a prophetic utterance. English can make “burden” sound like mere heaviness, but the root holds the weight and the act of carrying it together: Babylon’s weight is what the vision brings into view.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: to lift, carry, or bear
נָשָׂא
This is the root action beneath the burden: something is taken up and carried.
nasi: a prince or leader; one elevated
נָשִׂיא
The same root links carrying with elevation, giving a quiet echo between Babylon’s imposing status and the weight named in the vision.
THE PATTERN
A prophetic burden brings a power’s weight into sight, while the same weight can appear as something others are forced to carry.
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.THE THREAD
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.Isaiah 13:1 calls Babylon’s vision a מַשָּׂא (massa), a burden. Isaiah 46:1 uses the same word for the load Babylon’s idols place on weary beasts: the weight first seen as prophecy becomes weight others must carry.
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