What Does Isaiah 31:5 Mean in the King James?
As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
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 place named for wholeness is guarded by a presence pictured as a bird in flight: covering, rescuing, and passing over.
THE MEANING
The LORD of hosts shelters Jerusalem with the closeness of a bird over its young: he covers, rescues, and spares. Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim), carrying shalom (שָׁלוֹם, shalom: wholeness), is held within that protective movement. For you, wholeness is met by a covering presence that rescues and spares.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what is precious remains safe only through your own vigilance: the verse attributes the guarding, rescue, and sparing to the LORD.
THE ROOT
יָגֵן
yāgēn
GROWS FROM
גנן
g-n-n
To cover, surround, shield, or defend.
“defend” in this verse is yāgēn. The verb for defending grows from a root of covering and surrounding. Its branches picture protection as shelter: a shield guards what is exposed, and a garden is an enclosed place where life is kept.
ALSO GROWS
māgēn: Shield.
מָגֵן
The shared root makes defense a protective covering around what is vulnerable.
gan: Garden or enclosed planted space.
גַּן
The image of defense carries the sense of sheltering life within a protected place.
פָּסֹחַ
pāsōaḥ
GROWS FROM
פסח
p-s-ḥ
To pass over; in a protective context, to spare.
The verb פָּסֹחַ (pāsōaḥ, passing over) is from the root behind פֶּסַח (pesaḥ, Passover). The verse’s final image of protection is therefore an act of sparing, joined to the bird’s covering flight.
ALSO GROWS
pāsaḥ: Pass over or spare.
פָּסַח
This is the protective action named at the close of the verse.
pesaḥ: Passover.
פֶּסַח
The name of Passover carries the same root as the sparing described here.
וְהִצִּיל
wəhiṣṣîl
GROWS FROM
נצל
n-ṣ-l
To snatch away, rescue, or deliver.
The word translated “deliver” carries the movement of being pulled out of danger. Alongside covering and sparing, it shows protection as rescue from what threatens.
ALSO GROWS
hiṣṣîl: Deliver or rescue.
הִצִּיל
This is the form used in the verse for the LORD’s act of bringing Jerusalem out of danger.
niṣṣal: Be rescued or escape.
נִצַּל
The same root can describe the endangered one’s release from the threat.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s protection is pictured as a sheltering presence that gathers the vulnerable beneath its wings.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!THE THREAD
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.Isaiah uses פסח (pāsaḥ, pass over or spare), the same root that names פֶּסַח (pesaḥ, Passover). Exodus shows this root as sparing life from destruction; Isaiah places that same sparing beside a bird in flight.
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