What Does Isaiah 26:14 Mean in the King James?
They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
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 Hebrew word for the remembrance erased here shares its root with the word for invoking God’s name in the verse before it: whose name is spoken, and whose is wiped away.
THE MEANING
The verse names an ending with no return in view: those who are dead do not live or rise, and their remembrance perishes. The loss reaches beyond their bodies to their legacy; their dominion does not keep living through a remembered name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that dominion guarantees remembrance. The verse says a ruler’s memory can perish along with the ruler.
THE ROOT
זֵכֶר
zēker
GROWS FROM
זכר
Remember, call to mind, or mention.
“memory” in this verse is zēker. English separates remembering from mentioning, but both grow from זכר (z-k-r). Isaiah 26:13 uses this root for making mention of God’s name; here, the remembrance of the other rulers perishes.
ALSO GROWS
zākar: To remember, recall, or mention.
זָכַר
The verb behind “make mention” in Isaiah 26:13 shares this root with the remembrance that perishes here.
zikkārôn: A memorial or remembrance.
זִכָּרוֹן
This branch shows how the same root can describe what is kept in memory, as well as what is erased from it.
וַתְּאַבֵּד
vattəʾabbēd
GROWS FROM
אבד
Perish or be lost; in a causative form, cause to perish or be lost.
The verse uses a causative form: their remembrance is made to perish. The root’s sense of being lost gives the erasure a stark finality.
ALSO GROWS
ʾābad: To perish or become lost.
אָבַד
This is the root verb beneath the verse’s statement that their remembrance perishes.
ʾăbēdāh: A lost thing or loss.
אֲבֵדָה
This noun carries the root’s sense of what has gone missing, illuminating the verse’s picture of remembrance lost.
THE PATTERN
God’s judgment ends rival dominion by removing its claim to endure.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.THE THREAD
O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.“Make mention” and “memory” carry the same Hebrew root, זכר (z-k-r), meaning remember or mention. The two verses contrast the name spoken to God with the remembrance of rival rulers that is erased.
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