What Does Isaiah 3:21 Mean in the King James?
The rings, and nose jewels,
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
English calls one ring an earring and another a nose jewel, but Hebrew uses נֶזֶם for both.
THE MEANING
Rings and nose ornaments stand among the visible things that can be taken away. Hebrew uses נֶזֶם for both a nose ring and an earring, so one source word crosses the distinction English makes by where the ring is worn.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what you wear secures your beauty or standing meets a line that places these outward signs among what can be removed.
THE ROOT
נִזְמֵי
nizme
GROWS FROM
נזם
nazam
To put a ring into the nose; by extension, to muzzle.
“jewels” in this verse is nizme. English gives nose rings and earrings separate names, but Hebrew uses נֶזֶם for both. The same word-family also reaches the act of muzzling, joining adornment and restraint at the nose.
ALSO GROWS
nazam: To put a ring into the nose; to muzzle.
נָזַם
This verb shows the physical act behind the ornament and the root’s related sense of restraint.
nezem: A ring, including a nose ring or earring.
נֶזֶם
This noun names Isaiah’s nose jewels and the earring given in Genesis 24:47.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats bodily ornaments as visible things that can be received, worn, and removed.
And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;THE THREAD
And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.The “earring” here is the same Hebrew noun, נֶזֶם (nezem), as Isaiah’s “nose jewels.” The same word names the ring across different places on the body.
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