What Does Isaiah 17:9 Mean in the King James?
In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
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 word for “forsaken” shares its root with “they left”: the city becomes the very thing its people abandoned.
THE MEANING
Places that seem secure can stand empty when those who hold them up have left. The verse pictures strength reduced to a discarded branch and names the result as desolation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a strong place cannot be abandoned or emptied.
THE ROOT
עֲזוּבַת
azuvat
GROWS FROM
עזב
To leave or abandon.
The verse uses this root again in “they left.” The city is not merely compared to a branch; “forsaken” and “left” share the same seed, tying its exposed state to the act of abandonment.
ALSO GROWS
azav: To leave or forsake.
עָזַב
The same root appears in “they left,” linking the abandoned bough to the people who left it.
azuvah: Forsaking; an abandoned state or place.
עֲזוּבָה
This form appears in Isaiah 6:12, where the land is marked by “a great forsaking,” echoing the desolation here.
THE PATTERN
Places that appear secure can become desolate when the people who sustain them are gone.
And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.THE THREAD
And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.Isaiah 17:9 uses עזב in both “forsaken” and “they left”; Isaiah 6:12 uses the same root in “forsaking.” The repeated seed reveals desolation as the state left behind when people depart.
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