What Does Isaiah 16:11 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.
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 harp is not outside the grief: the speaker’s own inward parts are what sound for Moab.
THE MEANING
Grief for Moab reaches your deepest interior; it is not an idea held at arm’s length but a sound that moves through you. The harp gives that sorrow resonance, while Kir-haresh remains named and particular rather than blurred into a general ache.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that concern for another people must stay abstract dissolves: their suffering can sound inside you.
THE ROOT
יֶהֱמוּ
yehemu
GROWS FROM
המה
h-m-h
to murmur, roar, or make an inward commotion
The verb translated “sound” can also describe murmuring or roaring. The verse makes grief resonate from within, so lament becomes audible rather than remaining a private thought.
ALSO GROWS
hamah: to murmur, roar, or make a tumult
הָמָה
This verb’s range holds both a low inner murmur and a forceful cry, giving the sorrow a sound with depth.
hamon: noise, tumult, or a great multitude
הָמוֹן
The related noun makes the inner sound something that can swell and fill the space around it.
קִרְבִּי
qirbi
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
to approach or come near
The word for inward parts belongs to the same root as words for nearness and drawing near. The sorrow for Moab is described as something close within, not distant sympathy.
ALSO GROWS
qarab: to approach or draw near
קָרַב
The root makes inwardness a kind of nearness: the grief has come close enough to be felt within.
qarov: near or close
קָרוֹב
This branch echoes the verse’s intimacy: the suffering named here is held close in the speaker’s inward life.
THE PATTERN
When compassion enters the inward parts, it finds a voice as sounding, groaning, or song.
Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.THE THREAD
Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?This verse uses the same language of inward parts and sounding, making compassion resonate from within. Here the sound is for Moab; there it becomes a question about whether the LORD’s own compassion is restrained.
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