What Does Isaiah 4:3 Mean in the King James?
And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
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
Holiness here is the name given to every one written for life in the city whose own name carries wholeness.
THE MEANING
The verse names a remnant: those left in Zion and remaining in Jerusalem are called set apart, every person recorded for life. “Every one” makes that designation shared, not reserved for a visibly exceptional few. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim: twofold wholeness) gives the place-name a resonance of life gathered into wholeness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that being set apart belongs only to a spiritual elite: the verse names every one written for life in Jerusalem as set apart.
THE ROOT
קָדוֹשׁ
qādôš
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
Set apart; marked off as distinct or belonging to a sacred sphere.
“holy” in this verse is qādôš. The verse calls the people written for life קָדוֹשׁ (qādôš, set apart), naming their belonging rather than listing a moral score. Its wording places the whole recorded remnant under that name.
ALSO GROWS
qōdeš: Set-apartness; sacredness
קֹדֶשׁ
The shared root makes holiness a state of belonging to what is set apart, illuminating why the verse applies the name to the entire group.
qiddēsh: Set apart; consecrate
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shows the root as an act of marking something for a distinct purpose, echoing the verse’s designation of those written for life.
חַיִּים
chayyim
GROWS FROM
חיה
ch-y-h
To live, remain alive, or revive.
The Hebrew phrase לַחַיִּים (laḥayyim, for life) points toward life, complementing the KJV’s “among the living.” The verse joins that life-bearing inscription with the name set apart: every one recorded for life in Jerusalem receives that designation.
ALSO GROWS
chai: Alive; living
חַי
The adjective names the living person, making the registry in the verse about people belonging to life.
chayah: To live; remain alive
חָיָה
The verb makes life an active condition, fitting the verse’s focus on those who remain and are written for life.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; wholeness.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim carries the wholeness of שָׁלוֹם (shālôm, wholeness) in a dual form. The name of the place echoes the verse’s image of those written for life gathered into wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
shālôm: Wholeness; completeness
שָׁלוֹם
This shared sound and sense lets the city’s name echo the wholeness surrounding those named in the verse.
shālēm: Whole; complete
שָׁלֵם
The same root connects the place-name’s resonance to the state of being whole.
THE PATTERN
Being written for life marks belonging to a community recognized as set apart.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.THE THREAD
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.Both verses use כתב (k-t-b, write or inscribe) for being recorded, and both place that writing beside the living. Isaiah turns the shared image toward inclusion: those written for life in Jerusalem are named set apart.
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