What Does Isaiah 24:23 Mean in the King James?
Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
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
When the LORD reigns in Zion, even the sun and moon blush before the weight of his glory.
THE MEANING
The brightest things in your sky cannot hold the highest place when the LORD’s reign is present. What looks like ultimate radiance becomes secondary to the LORD’s presence and rule.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that whatever shines brightest must have the greatest authority. Even the sun and moon are not the final measure of glory.
THE ROOT
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty.
The KJV’s “gloriously” renders כָּבוֹד (kavod, weight or glory), so the verse ends with the idea of weight. The LORD’s reign does not merely outshine the luminaries; it changes what has substance and authority.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy or weighty.
כָּבֵד
This branch makes the root’s physical sense clear: weight is what gives something substance.
kibbed: To honor or give weight to someone.
כִּבֵּד
Honor and glory grow from the same root as heaviness: what is glorious carries weight.
הַלְּבָנָה
hal-levanah
GROWS FROM
לבן
l-b-n
To be white or become white.
The Hebrew word for the moon is literally “the white one.” The very light named for its whiteness is put to shame when the LORD reigns, changing what counts as radiance.
ALSO GROWS
lavan: White.
לָבָן
The moon’s name grows from this word for whiteness, tying the celestial light to its color.
Levanon: Lebanon, a name traditionally linked with whiteness.
לְבָנוֹן
The shared root carries whiteness beyond the moon, linking pale brightness with the landscape’s name.
מָלַךְ
malakh
GROWS FROM
מלך
m-l-k
To be king or rule as king.
English gives the ruler, the act of reigning, and the kingdom separate word families. Hebrew holds them together: the LORD’s reign is an order of rule, not merely a display in the sky.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
The noun for the ruler belongs to the same family as the act of reigning.
malkhut: Kingdom or royal rule.
מַלְכוּת
The king’s authority and the order under that authority share the same root.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD’s reign is revealed, created lights become secondary to divine presence.
The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.THE THREAD
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.Isaiah 60:19 uses כָּבוֹד (kavod, weight or glory) for “glory,” the same word behind the KJV’s “gloriously” here. Its sun-and-moon image makes the connection visible: when God’s own weight becomes the light, created brightness no longer carries the scene.
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