What Does Isaiah 23:12 Mean in the King James?
And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.
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
She is told to move, but the verse promises no place where she can settle.
THE MEANING
When oppression cuts off joy, a new destination can leave the wound intact. The verse holds together the command to rise and cross with the blunt warning that no rest waits there; movement is not yet release.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A change of place by itself will restore joy and give rest.
THE ROOT
נוּחַ
nuach
GROWS FROM
נוח
To settle, come to rest, or remain.
The verse’s “no rest” is more than a lack of quiet: its root carries the sense of never settling. The crossing changes her location, but does not bring her to a place where she can land.
ALSO GROWS
menuchah: Resting place or repose.
מְנוּחָה
This branch makes rest a place of settling, sharpening the contrast with a journey that offers no landing.
vat-tanach: And it rested or settled.
וַתָּנַח
This form describes the ark coming to rest in Genesis 8:4, a concrete image of reaching a place where movement ends.
הַמְעֻשָּׁקָה
ha-me'ushaqah
GROWS FROM
עשק
To oppress, exploit, or defraud.
“oppressed” in this verse is ha-me'ushaqah. The word names a person under inflicted exploitation, not simply someone having a hard day. That condition stands beside the loss of joy and the failed promise of rest.
ALSO GROWS
osheq: Oppression or extortion.
עֹשֶׁק
This noun names the injury itself, showing the force behind her present condition.
ashuq: An oppressed or exploited person.
עָשׁוּק
This related form names the one bearing that injury, as the verse names the addressed woman.
THE PATTERN
Flight or safety does not guarantee rest; rest appears where it is actually found or given.
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.THE THREAD
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.Isaiah’s “have no rest” uses נוּחַ (nuach), meaning “to settle” or “rest”, the same root behind the ark that “rested” on Ararat. Here, the crossing to Chittim does not bring that kind of landing.
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