What Does Isaiah 26:2 Mean in the King James?
Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
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 “truth” kept at the gate is אֱמֻנִים (emunim), steadfast trust: entry belongs to a people whose alignment holds firm.
THE MEANING
The gates open to a people whose life is aligned and whose trust holds steady. Here, truth is not only a claim to state but a faithfulness a community guards and carries; entering the city is movement into that shared steadiness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that truth is only a correct statement: here, truth is a lived steadfastness kept in common.
THE ROOT
אֱמֻנִים
emunim
GROWS FROM
אמן
To be firm, reliable, and trustworthy; to lean on what is steady.
The word translated “truth” is built on the root of firmness and trustworthiness. It presents truth as something held steady in a community, not merely an idea someone asserts.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Trust; steadfastness; faithfulness.
אֱמוּנָה
This branch shows the trust and reliability contained in the word the nation keeps.
amen: Firm, steady; truly.
אָמֵן
The familiar response carries the same sense of something affirmed as reliable and sure.
שֹׁמֵר
shomer
GROWS FROM
שמר
To guard, watch over, and preserve.
“keepeth” in this verse is shomer. The nation does not merely possess truth; it watches over faithfulness. The root also describes preservation, linking the people’s keeping with an active protection of what is entrusted to them.
ALSO GROWS
shamar: To guard, watch, or preserve.
שָׁמַר
This is the verb behind “keepeth,” making the nation’s relation to truth a watchful practice.
mishmeret: A watch, charge, or guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch makes the guarding sense concrete: what is kept is a trust carried with care.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
Rightness or justice; being in alignment.
The “righteous nation” is described through alignment, while the next phrase shows what that alignment looks like: it keeps trust firm. The verse joins a people’s way of being with the faithfulness they guard.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This is the root idea behind the nation’s description as righteous.
tsedaqah: Justice; aligned conduct.
צְדָקָה
This branch carries the root into lived action, echoing the verse’s picture of a people who keep faithfulness.
THE PATTERN
The gates of the city open to people whose life embodies the trust and alignment that belong within it.
Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.THE THREAD
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.Isaiah calls the people at the gate שֹׁמֵר (shomer), guarding faithfulness; Psalm 121 uses the same שׁמר (shamar) root for the LORD who preserves you. The shared root places human keeping and divine keeping inside one image of watchful care.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us