What Does Isaiah 14:3 Mean in the King James?

And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

Isaiah 14:3 · 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

The rest promised here reaches the hard service itself, not only the exhaustion it leaves behind.

THE MEANING

The LORD gives you rest from sorrow, fear, and the hard service that has pressed on you; the gift reaches both inward distress and the work that governs your days. The verse holds open a day when those burdens no longer set the terms of your life.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Sorrow, fear, and imposed labor do not define your nature forever; the verse names them as burdens you are given rest from.

THE ROOT

הָנִיחַ

hāniaḥ

GROWS FROM

נוח

To rest or settle; in this form, to bring someone to rest.

The root carries both resting and being settled into rest. Its branches show that the verse promises more than a pause: the burdensome motion stops, and a settled place opens.

ALSO GROWS

Noach: Rest

נֹחַ

The name carries the same root of rest, showing how a name can hold a nature within it.

menuchah: Resting place or settled rest

מְנוּחָה

This branch appears in Exodus 33:14, where the LORD promises to give rest.

הָעֲבֹדָה

ha’avodah

GROWS FROM

עבד

To work or serve.

“hard bondage” in this verse is ha’avodah. The phrase echoes the same root in “wherein thou wast made to serve” (⁨עֻבַּד־בָּךְ⁩, ubbad bakh). Rest reaches the service that consumed your labor, not just the tiredness left by it.

ALSO GROWS

eved: Servant

עֶבֶד

This branch names the person bound to service, linking the burden to the one carrying it.

avodah: Work or service

עֲבֹדָה

This is the root-word in the verse for the hard bondage the LORD ends.

THE PATTERN

The gift of rest meets people where burdens have claimed both their labor and their inner quiet.

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

Exodus 33:14 · KJVThe LORD’s presence and the promise of rest arrive together, with rest given as a settled gift.

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

Deuteronomy 5:14 · KJVRest extends to those doing the work, releasing them from labor’s claim for a day.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28 · KJVThe invitation meets labor and heaviness with rest given by the one speaking.

THE THREAD

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.

Exodus 33:14 · KJV

Isaiah’s “give thee rest” and Exodus’s “I will give thee rest” share the ⁨נוח⁩ root-family. Exodus opens the promise further: the rest is given alongside the LORD’s presence, as a settled condition rather than mere cessation.

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