What Does Isaiah 24:2 Mean in the King James?
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
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
Hebrew forms “lender” and “borrower” from one root, then places both inside the same fate: opposite positions remain part of one bond.
THE MEANING
Every paired position is drawn under one outcome: people with priests, servants with masters, buyers with sellers. The upheaval reaches the one who lends and the one who borrows alike; status and leverage offer no separate shelter. Opposite ends of each relationship stand inside the same event.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that holding the higher position, or being less dependent on others, makes a person exempt from what reaches them.
THE ROOT
מַלְוֶה
malveh
GROWS FROM
לוה
lawah
To join or attach; in loan forms, to borrow or to cause someone to borrow, to lend.
The lender and borrower are not built from unrelated Hebrew roots: they are two forms of לוה (lawah), “to join or attach,” one borrowing and the other lending. The verse places both sides of that bond under one outcome, even though their positions within it differ.
ALSO GROWS
loveh: One who borrows.
לֹוֶה
The borrower in the paired line shares the root of the lender, binding both roles within the same transaction.
halva’ah: A loan or act of lending.
הַלְוָאָה
This form names the bond between the two roles; the verse shows that neither end of it stands apart from the other’s fate.
THE PATTERN
When one outcome reaches every position, social rank and moral standing cannot secure a separate measure.
All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.For there is no respect of persons with God.THE THREAD
The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.“Lend” and “borrow” here use the same root as the paired roles in Isaiah. Deuteronomy assigns them opposite positions; Isaiah places both positions inside the same outcome.
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