What Does Isaiah 4:5 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
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 verse places the LORD’s canopy over the weight itself, so glory appears sheltered rather than exposed.
THE MEANING
The LORD creates a covering over every dwelling on Mount Zion and over its gathered assemblies. Cloud and smoke mark the day; at night, the brightness of a flaming fire remains. The weight of glory rests beneath a canopy.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that divine presence leaves its weight exposed and unsheltered dissolves here: a covering rests over all the glory.
THE ROOT
חֻפָּה
chuppah
GROWS FROM
חפה
To cover or cover over; a covering or canopy.
The word translated “defence” is חֻפָּה (chuppah, canopy), so the closing image is a covering over the glory. The same canopy word appears as “chamber” in Psalm 19:5, joining shelter and enclosure in one image.
ALSO GROWS
chaphah: To cover or conceal.
חָפָה
The verb gives the action beneath the noun: the glory is covered over.
chuppah: A canopy or bridal chamber.
חֻפָּה
This is the covering image in Isaiah and the word rendered “chamber” in Psalm 19:5.
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be heavy or weighty; to carry weight.
כָּבוֹד (kavod, weight or glory) carries the sense of heaviness beneath the English word “glory.” A canopy over the kavod is a covering over what has weight and presence, not merely a decorative effect.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy or weighty.
כָּבֵד
This branch makes the physical sense of kavod visible: glory carries weight.
kibbed: To honor or treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
To honor is to recognize the weight carried by the one receiving honor.
THE PATTERN
The presence of God is pictured through forms that shelter, inhabit, and illuminate the places where people gather.
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.Isaiah’s “defence” is חֻפָּה (chuppah, canopy), the same word Psalm 19:5 renders as the bridegroom’s “chamber.” The image shifts from a canopy over Zion’s glory to a bridegroom emerging from beneath a canopy.
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