What Does Isaiah 20:5 Mean in the King James?

And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

Isaiah 20:5 · 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.

THE KEY

The verse exposes how borrowed splendor can become a narrow place: what you treat as your guarantee can leave you exposed.

THE MEANING

Fear rises when the future you entrust to another power does not arrive as promised. The glory you lean on cannot carry the weight of expectation, and Mitzrayim, the narrowing, can feel like shelter until it closes around the hope placed there. The verse meets you at the instant dependence becomes exposure.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that an impressive source of power can guarantee the future you place in it.

THE ROOT

תִּפְאַרְתָּם

tiph'artām

GROWS FROM

פאר

pa’ar: to adorn, beautify, or make splendid.

The word rendered “their glory” belongs to a family that names both making something splendid and the ornament itself. The verse places Egypt’s splendor beside a failed expectation: impressive adornment cannot secure the future attached to it.

ALSO GROWS

pi'er: to adorn, beautify, or glorify

פִּאֵר

This verb shows glory as something made splendid, not merely a source of strength.

pe'er: ornament, headdress, or adornment

פְּאֵר

This noun makes the image concrete: splendor can be something worn or displayed, yet it cannot guarantee safety.

THE PATTERN

What a person treats as a guarantee can become the ground of shame when it cannot deliver.

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

Isaiah 30:3 · KJVThe strength and shelter expected from Egypt become the very source of shame and confusion.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Psalm 146:3 · KJVThe verse exposes the limit of placing your trust in human power to secure your future.

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 5:5 · KJVIt shows hope that does not end in shame, contrasting with expectation fixed on a power that cannot carry it.

THE THREAD

And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.

Exodus 28:2 · KJV

“Glory” in both verses comes from ⁨פאר⁩, the family of adornment and splendor. Exodus names beauty as something the garments carry; Isaiah shows that splendor cannot itself carry the weight of expectation.

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