What Does Isaiah 2:20 Mean in the King James?
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
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
What is precious enough to bow before becomes something a person throws into the dark when it can no longer bear their trust.
THE MEANING
What you make into a source of safety can be exposed as something you can only throw away. The silver and gold remain precious as metal, but the worship placed on them cannot carry the person through the day of terror. The verse speaks now of false security collapsing in the moment it is most needed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that something you can make, own, and polish can carry the weight of your trust. Fear exposes it as an object you can only cast aside.
THE ROOT
יַשְׁלִיךְ
yashlikh
GROWS FROM
שלך
To throw or cast.
“cast” in this verse is yashlikh. The verse’s central movement is a reversal: the worshipper once bows toward these objects, then throws them away. This root also describes casting a burden onto the LORD, so what matters is what is thrown and where it is placed.
ALSO GROWS
hashlekh: Cast.
הַשְׁלֵךְ
Psalm 55:22 uses the same root for casting a burden upon the LORD, who sustains the one carrying it.
hashlikhu: Cast away.
הַשְׁלִיכוּ
Ezekiel 18:31 uses the same root for casting away transgressions; the throwing motion can turn toward what must be discarded.
כַסְפּוֹ
kaspo
GROWS FROM
כסף
To long for or yearn; the same consonantal family names silver and money.
Silver is connected in Hebrew with longing: what is desired has been shaped into an object of worship. Here the precious metal becomes something the worshipper later throws away.
ALSO GROWS
kesef: Silver or money.
כֶּסֶף
This is the precious material fashioned into an idol in the verse.
nikhsaf: Longed for or yearned for.
נִכְסַף
This verbal form shares the root family, linking the valued metal with desire.
לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹת
lehishtachavot
GROWS FROM
שחה
To bow low or prostrate oneself.
The word rendered “worship” describes a body lowering itself. The verse makes the posture concrete: the human being bows before a thing made by human hands.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: To bow low or prostrate.
שָׁחָה
The root keeps the physical posture visible beneath the English word “worship.”
hishtachavah: To prostrate oneself or bow down.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This related form makes the self-lowering explicit: the worshipper places themselves beneath the object.
THE PATTERN
Human-made objects trusted as powers are exposed as powerless, and trust turns away from them.
They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;THE THREAD
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.The verb “cast” comes from the same Hebrew root in both verses. Here the idols are thrown away; in the psalm, a burden is cast upon the LORD, who sustains the one carrying it.
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