What Does Isaiah 27:3 Mean in the King James?
I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
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 LORD keeps the vineyard through both protection and constant nourishment.
THE MEANING
You are a tended vineyard: the LORD keeps watch over you and waters you at every moment. His care guards what may harm you and supplies what sustains you, through night and day.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being kept means only being shielded from harm: here, keeping also means being watered continually.
THE ROOT
נֹצְרָהּ
notserah
GROWS FROM
נצר
Guard, watch over, preserve.
“keep” in this verse is notserah. The verse uses נצר (natsar, guard or preserve) twice, enclosing the watering in an uninterrupted act of care. Its consonants also appear in נֵצֶר (netser, shoot or branch), a sound echo that places living growth beside the act of guarding.
ALSO GROWS
notserim: Watchers or keepers.
נֹצְרִים
Jeremiah 31:6 uses this form for watchmen; it shows the same root’s attentive guarding at work.
netser: Shoot or branch.
נֵצֶר
This consonant echo fits the vineyard image: the living growth being preserved sits beside the language of keeping.
אַשְׁקֶנָּה
ashqennah
GROWS FROM
שקה
Give drink; water or irrigate.
“water” in this verse is ashqennah. The verb casts care as giving drink: the vineyard receives what sustains it. Since the LORD waters it “every moment,” nourishment is part of his unbroken keeping.
ALSO GROWS
yashqeh: Waters or gives drink.
יַשְׁקֶה
Genesis 2:6 uses this root for watering the whole face of the ground, joining water with the sustaining of living creation.
mashqeh: Drink; a cupbearer, one who gives drink.
מַשְׁקֶה
Genesis 40:1 uses this word for Pharaoh’s cupbearer, carrying the root’s giving of drink into a person’s role.
THE PATTERN
Care that sustains life stays attentive while supplying what growth needs.
A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.THE THREAD
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.Isaiah 26:3 uses נצר (natsar, guard or preserve) for the LORD keeping the mind stayed on him. The same root links the vineyard’s keeping with the keeping of inward steadiness.
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