What Does Isaiah 25:3 Mean in the King James?
Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
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 city that makes others tremble becomes the one standing in awe, because God carries a weight no empire can claim.
THE MEANING
What seems absolute in the world around you is not ultimate. Strong peoples give God weight, and even a city that terrifies others stands in awe before him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The city feared by others is beyond any power that could call it to account.
THE ROOT
יְכַבְּדֶךָ
yĕkhabbedekha
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty; by extension, to honor.
The verb rendered “glorify” belongs to the Hebrew family of weight: honor and weight share one root. The nations recognize God’s weight, while the city that once made others tremble stands in awe before him.
ALSO GROWS
kavod: Weight, honor, glory.
כָּבוֹד
This branch joins God’s glory to the weight the nations recognize in him.
kaved: Heavy, weighty.
כָּבֵד
This branch makes the verse’s honor concrete: to glorify is to regard God as weighty.
יִירָאוּךָ
yîrāʾûkha
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
Here the word for fear carries awe before God. The city known for making others afraid now recognizes a power beyond its own.
ALSO GROWS
yir’ah: Fear or awe.
יִרְאָה
This noun shows the range of the root: fear can include reverence before a greater power.
nora’: Awe-inspiring, fearsome.
נוֹרָא
This related form describes what evokes awe, illuminating the city’s changed posture before God.
THE PATTERN
When God’s supremacy is revealed, the weight and awe held by nations turn toward him.
All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.THE THREAD
All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.Isaiah’s verb rendered “glorify” comes from כבד (k-b-d), the same root Psalm 86:9 uses for the nations who “shall glorify thy name.” The shared root joins God’s honor to weight: the nations recognize his weight in person and in name.
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