What Does Isaiah 21:6 Mean in the King James?
For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
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 watchman’s task is to make sight public: what is seen becomes a message when it is declared.
THE MEANING
This verse places you inside a chain of attention and speech: a watchman is set to observe what is unfolding, and what comes into view is declared. His report stays tethered to what he sees.
THE ROOT
הַמְצַפֶּה
hametsappeh
GROWS FROM
צפה
tsaphah
To look out, keep watch.
English gives “watchman” as a role, but צפה (tsaphah, to look out) names an act of sustained attention. The lookout is one who keeps something in view before it is reported.
ALSO GROWS
tsopheh: Watcher, lookout.
צֹפֶה
This is the watchman’s role in a related form: one who watches.
mitspah: Lookout, watchtower.
מִצְפֶּה
The lookout’s place grows from the same root as the person keeping watch.
יַגִּיד
yaggid
GROWS FROM
נגד
nagad
To make known, declare.
“declare” in this verse is yaggid. The verse’s word for declaring comes from a root associated with making something known. The movement is from keeping what is seen in view to making it known to others.
ALSO GROWS
higgid: He told, declared.
הִגִּיד
This related form names the act of reporting what has been made known.
maggid: One who tells or announces.
מַגִּיד
The report becomes the work of a person who makes something known.
THE PATTERN
A witness receives a charge to attend, then makes what is seen or heard known.
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.For we can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.THE THREAD
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.Isaiah’s “watchman” and Ezekiel’s are built from צפה (tsaphah, to look out and keep watch). Isaiah names what the watchman reports; Ezekiel adds that the watchman receives a word and gives it out.
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