What Does Isaiah 27:7 Mean in the King James?
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
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 repeated Hebrew roots set striking beside slaughter, showing that a real blow does not automatically carry the same measure or outcome as destruction.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the one under a blow now: pain and annihilation are not the same measure. Its paired questions place the struck one beside the slain aggressors and make the difference in outcome visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every painful blow means you are being destroyed by the same violence you fear.
THE ROOT
הִכָּהוּ
hikkāhû
GROWS FROM
נכה
To strike or smite.
“smitten” in this verse is hikkāhû. The verse repeats this root for the one who strikes and the one struck, making the action echo across both sides of the question. English preserves the repetition, while Hebrew lets the shared root keep the whole exchange bound to one act: a blow.
ALSO GROWS
makkāh: A blow, stroke, or plague.
מַכָּה
The noun names the blow itself, the concrete force the verse compares with slaughter.
makkēh: One who strikes; a striker.
מַכֵּה
This form names the agent of the blow, linking the one struck to those who strike him.
הֹרָג
hōrag
GROWS FROM
הרג
To kill or slay.
The second half repeats this root in “slaughter,” “his slain,” and “was he slain.” The question puts the fatal outcome beside the blow and asks whether they are the same measure.
ALSO GROWS
hereg: Killing or slaughter.
הֶרֶג
It names the act whose severity is being compared with the striking in the first half.
harugav: His slain; those killed by him.
הֲרֻגָיו
It names the victims of that slaughter, making the comparison about both the violence and its outcome.
THE PATTERN
Scripture can name real affliction while keeping it distinct from death, abandonment, or destruction.
The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;THE THREAD
In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.The next verse supplies the measure Isaiah 27:7 asks about and depicts the rough wind as stayed. Together, the verses distinguish a bounded blow from the slaughter named in the question.
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