What Does Isaiah 37:18 Mean in the King James?
Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
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 devastation is double: power does not only defeat a people; it desolates the ground their life depends on.
THE MEANING
The verse names what happens when domination reaches beyond a people to the ground holding their life: both are laid waste. It holds the devastation whole, naming nations and their countries together rather than treating conquest as only a change of rulers.
THE ROOT
הֶחֱרִיבוּ
hecherivu
GROWS FROM
חרב
To dry up or become desolate; in this causative form, to make desolate.
“laid waste” in this verse is hecherivu. The English phrase can sound like a military result; the root carries an image of drying into desolation. The devastation reaches past defeat to what makes the land fertile and livable.
ALSO GROWS
charev: Dry, parched, desolate.
חָרֵב
This form names the condition held inside the verb: land made waste is left dry and barren.
chorbah: Ruin, desolation.
חָרְבָּה
This noun names the ruined state the kings’ action brings about.
אָמְנָם
amnam
GROWS FROM
אמן
To be firm, established, or reliable.
“Of a truth” in this verse is amnam. The opening phrase carries the sense of firmness beneath its plain assertion. The claim is held steady even as it names a world violently undone.
ALSO GROWS
amen: Truly; so be it.
אָמֵן
The same root gives the firm assent that marks a statement as trustworthy.
emunah: Trust, steadiness; leaning your full weight on what is firm.
אֱמוּנָה
This branch shows how firmness becomes something a person can rely on.
THE PATTERN
Destructive power reaches beyond people to the land and shared life that sustain them.
The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.THE THREAD
That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:The same חרב root appears in “decayed places” (חָרְבוֹתֶיהָ, chorvoteyha), meaning ruins. Here those ruins are raised and inhabited, so desolation is real without being the land’s final condition.
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