What Does Isaiah 35:8 Mean in the King James?
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
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 way marked as set apart does not demand a wise traveler: even fools walking it do not wander from it.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with a path that is there and bears the character of what is set apart. Its boundary excludes the unclean, yet the one walking it, even a fool, does not lose direction. Wisdom is not described as what keeps the traveler on course.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You have to become wise enough to find and stay on the way of holiness.
THE ROOT
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-kh
to tread, step, or march
A derekh is a way made for feet: the word carries the sense of treading beneath the idea of a path. The verse repeats this word as both the way and the way of what is set apart, making holiness a walkable course.
ALSO GROWS
dārakh: to tread, step, or march
דָּרַךְ
The verb shows the movement held inside the noun: a way is a course walked by steps.
dōrēkh: one who treads
דֹּרֵךְ
The traveler belongs to the image of the verse: this way is encountered by walking it.
הַקֹּדֶשׁ
haqqōdesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
to set apart
“holiness” in this verse is haqqōdesh. The name of the way is built from the language of being set apart. The verse holds that distinctness together with a striking openness: even a fool walking the way does not go astray.
ALSO GROWS
qādōsh: set apart
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective shares the root that names the quality of the way.
miqdāsh: sanctuary, a set-apart place
מִקְדָּשׁ
The sanctuary shows how the root can name a place marked as set apart, just as this verse names a way.
יִתְעוּ
yitʿu
GROWS FROM
תעה
t-ʿ-h
to wander or stray
The verb rendered “err” pictures wandering off course. Set beside the repeated word for way, it says that even a fool walking this route does not lose the path.
ALSO GROWS
tāʿāh: to wander or go astray
תָּעָה
This is the root verb behind the verse’s “shall not err,” giving the line the sense of not wandering from the route.
tōʿeh: one who wanders
תֹּעֶה
The wandering person makes the contrast clear: the way holds its walker from straying.
THE PATTERN
The way toward God is made known as a path that can be entered and walked.
Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.THE THREAD
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Both verses use דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, way) and pair the way with a highway. Isaiah 35 names the way as set apart and says its walker does not wander; Isaiah 40 shows that same way made straight through the wilderness.
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