What Does Isaiah 3:6 Mean in the King James?
When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand:
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 “ruin” placed under a ruler’s hand is the community’s stumble, so leadership begins with being handed its collapse.
THE MEANING
When a community breaks down, people look to whoever still appears to possess the basics: “Thou hast clothing.” They put the stumble itself beneath that person’s hand and call him ruler, as if visible provision can bear the whole failure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having what covers you does not mean you can carry what has broken around you.
THE ROOT
הַמַּכְשֵׁלָה
ham-makhshēlāh
GROWS FROM
כשל
To stumble, totter, or fail; this noun carries the sense of a stumbling or downfall.
Alongside the sense of ruin, the root keeps the image of a stumble in motion. The crisis is a destabilization handed to the would-be ruler.
ALSO GROWS
kashal: To stumble, totter, or fail
כָּשַׁל
The verb makes the “ruin” a stumbling movement, not only a finished state of destruction.
mikshol: A stumbling block or obstacle
מִכְשׁוֹל
This branch shows how the community’s trouble can itself become an obstruction placed before the one asked to rule.
THE PATTERN
A community’s distress exposes the gap between being assigned authority and being able to bear its burden.
In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.THE THREAD
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.Isaiah uses the same כשל root for “stumble” that lies beneath the “ruin” placed under the ruler’s hand here. This verse unfolds the image: a stumble can descend into falling, breaking, entanglement, and capture, showing what the ruler is asked to hold.
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