What Does Isaiah 2:12 Mean in the King James?
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
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 height that pride treats as protection is precisely what the LORD’s day brings down.
THE MEANING
The day of the LORD of hosts comes upon every proud and lofty one; the lifted-up one is brought low. Its living force is direct: no height made by pride can secure a person from the LORD’s judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“If I rise high enough, I am beyond the reach of judgment.”
THE ROOT
שָׁפֵל
shāphēl
GROWS FROM
שפל
shāphal: to be low or brought low.
“brought low” in this verse is shāphēl. The verse ends with lowliness as the answer to self-exalting height. The same root forms the act of bringing something down, so the lowering is built into the word itself.
ALSO GROWS
shāphēl: Low, humble.
שָׁפֵל
This is the form at the end of the verse: the height of pride meets lowliness.
hishpîl: To lower or bring down.
הִשְׁפִּיל
This causative form makes explicit the downward movement carried by the verse’s closing word.
shiflut: Lowliness, humility.
שִׁפְלוּת
This noun shows that the root can name a condition of lowliness as well as the movement into it.
גֵּאֶה
gēʾeh
GROWS FROM
גאה
gāʾâ: to rise, be high, or exalt oneself.
The word for proud carries the image of rising high. The verse’s judgment addresses the self-exalting posture at its source, where pride and height converge.
ALSO GROWS
gāʾâ: To rise, become high, or exalt oneself.
גָּאָה
This verb makes the rising motion within the word for proud visible.
gaʾavāh: Pride or elevation.
גַּאֲוָה
This noun names the elevated posture the verse places under judgment.
רָם
rām
GROWS FROM
רום
rûm: to rise or be high.
The word for lofty belongs to a root of rising and height, echoing the verse’s description of the lifted-up. Against these words of elevation, the closing lowliness gives the verse its downward turn.
ALSO GROWS
mārôm: Height or a high place.
מָרוֹם
This noun makes the spatial image of loftiness concrete.
terûmāh: An elevation or contribution set apart.
תְּרוּמָה
This word for something lifted up shows the root’s movement from rising to what is raised.
THE PATTERN
Self-exalting height does not secure itself; it meets a lowering that exposes its instability.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.THE THREAD
A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.Proverbs 29:23 uses שפל (shāphal, be low) in “bring him low,” sharing the root of Isaiah’s closing word. It makes explicit the movement Isaiah compresses: pride rises, then meets its lowering.
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