What Does Isaiah 22:19 Mean in the King James?

And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

Isaiah 22:19 · 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 sets two words for standing, your station and your status, against a verb of demolition.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks now to the confidence placed in a position: the place you occupy and the standing you rely on can both be removed. Its closing verb carries the force of tearing down, so the loss reaches beyond a title to the structure that supports it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that an established position makes your place permanent.

THE ROOT

יֶהֶרְסֶךָ

yeheresekha

GROWS FROM

הרס

h-r-s

tear down, demolish

The verb translated “pull thee down” belongs to the language of demolition. The verse describes the dismantling of a position, not merely a change of title.

ALSO GROWS

heres: ruin, destruction

הֶרֶס

This noun carries the same root’s force of a structure brought down.

haras: tear down, demolish

הָרַס

This verb names the direct action behind the verse’s “pull thee down.”

מַצָּב

matstsav

GROWS FROM

נצב

n-ts-b

stand, take one’s position

“Station” is built from the language of standing in a place. The verse makes the position itself a kind of standing that can be displaced.

ALSO GROWS

natsav: stand, take one’s position

נָצַב

The verb gives “station” its underlying image: a place where someone stands.

matstsebah: standing pillar, standing stone

מַצֵּבָה

This branch makes the root’s physical image of something set upright visible.

מַעֲמָד

ma'amad

GROWS FROM

עמד

ʿ-m-d

stand, remain standing

“State” also comes from a word for standing, through a different Hebrew root from “station.” The verse doubles the image: both place and standing are exposed to removal.

ALSO GROWS

amad: stand, remain

עָמַד

This verb is the seed of the word for “state” or standing.

omed: standing, one who stands

עֹמֵד

This form keeps the bodily image present inside the abstract idea of status.

THE PATTERN

A position that seems secure can be brought low, while standing and status remain subject to a greater authority.

The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

1 Samuel 2:7 · KJVThe verse places being brought low and lifted up within the same authority over a person’s standing.

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

Psalm 75:7 · KJVThe verse shows positions being lowered or established by the judge rather than held by their occupants alone.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

Luke 1:52 · KJVThe verse makes the same reversal visible through seats lost and people raised.

THE THREAD

See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

Jeremiah 1:10 · KJV

Isaiah’s “pull thee down” and Jeremiah’s “to destroy” share the root ⁨הרס⁩ (haras), “tear down, demolish.” The shared root reveals removal as dismantling, placed alongside the possibility of building and planting.

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