What Does Isaiah 13:17 Mean in the King James?
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
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
This is a force beyond purchase: silver does not count in its reckoning, and gold cannot kindle its desire.
THE MEANING
The verse places you before an oncoming force that wealth cannot purchase into retreat. Silver has no place in its reckoning, and gold cannot kindle its desire; the threat is violence that money cannot negotiate away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that enough wealth can always buy protection: some violence will not be bribed or redirected.
THE ROOT
יַחְשְׁבוּ
yachshovu
GROWS FROM
חשב
ḥ-sh-b
Think, reckon, devise.
“Regard” is a verb of reckoning: silver does not merely escape notice; it does not count in their calculation. This root can also speak of devising a plan, so the verse shows a force whose course wealth cannot redirect.
ALSO GROWS
ḥeshbon: Calculation, account, reckoning.
חֶשְׁבּוֹן
This branch makes the force of “regard” concrete: silver is outside their account.
maḥashavah: Thought, plan, intention.
מַחְשָׁבָה
The root reaches from weighing something to forming an intention, underscoring that treasure cannot alter the force’s course.
יַחְפְּצוּ
yachpetzu
GROWS FROM
חפץ
ḥ-p-ṣ
Desire, take pleasure in, be willing.
“delight” in this verse is yachpetzu. The verb carries wanting as well as taking pleasure. Gold neither attracts them nor changes what they are willing to do; calculation and appetite both stand beyond its reach.
ALSO GROWS
ḥephets: Desire, pleasure, or something desired.
חֵפֶץ
This noun brings the word’s sense of appetite into view: gold gives them no pleasure and awakens no desire.
ḥaphets: To desire, take pleasure in, or be willing.
חָפֵץ
This verbal branch links their lack of delight to their will: gold does not move them toward a different course.
THE PATTERN
Wealth cannot purchase safety from a force that refuses to reckon with it.
Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.THE THREAD
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.The same root, חשב (ḥashav: reckon, devise), appears in “regard,” “thought,” and “meant.” Genesis shows the root reaching from calculation to intention, sharpening Isaiah’s point: silver cannot enter the Medes’ reckoning or change their intent.
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