What Does Isaiah 40:23 Mean in the King James?

That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

Isaiah 40:23 · KJV

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

Earth’s judges can be reduced to tohu (⁨תֹּהוּ⁩, tōhū: formless emptiness), showing that their power cannot make itself permanent.

THE MEANING

Rulers and judges who seem to give the world its shape remain contingent. The One who gives them their place can reduce them to tohu (⁨תֹּהוּ⁩, tōhū: formless emptiness), the unformed state named at creation’s opening.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that rank or legal authority makes anyone untouchable, or that human judgment can secure its own permanence.

THE ROOT

הַנּוֹתֵן

hannōtēn

GROWS FROM

נתן

natan

To give, put, place, or set.

“bringeth” in this verse is hannōtēn. The Hebrew opens with hannōtēn (⁨הַנּוֹתֵן⁩, hannōtēn: “the one giving or setting”) princes le’ayin (⁨לְאָיִן⁩, le’ayin: “to nothing”). The natan root (⁨נתן⁩, natan: give, place, set) makes the reversal feel like reassignment: the authority that is placed can be placed into emptiness.

ALSO GROWS

natan: To give, put, or set.

נָתַן

This verb is the seed of the participle used for the one who brings the princes to nothing.

mattanah: Gift.

מַתָּנָה

The same seed appears in a thing given, sharpening the verse’s picture of authority as something bestowed rather than self-made.

שֹׁפְטֵי

shoftei

GROWS FROM

שפט

shaphat

To judge, govern, or decide.

The word for judges and mishpat (⁨מִשְׁפָּט⁩, mishpat: judgment or justice) share the shaphat seed (⁨שפט⁩, shaphat: judge or govern). The people who administer judgment are not its source or guarantors; they, too, stand beneath the One who can judge.

ALSO GROWS

shofet: Judge.

שֹׁפֵט

This singular form names the person who exercises the judgment that Isaiah says can be rendered empty.

mishpat: Judgment or justice.

מִשְׁפָּט

The same root names both the person who judges and the judgment itself, linking earthly authority to the order it cannot secure for itself.

THE PATTERN

Authority on earth is assigned, and the One who assigns it can remove its standing.

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Daniel 2:21 · KJVThe rise and removal of kings are both held within the One who gives and changes their standing.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

Luke 1:52 · KJVThe verse shows power and position changing hands rather than belonging permanently to the mighty.

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

1 Corinthians 1:28 · KJVWhat appears established can be brought to nothing, while what appears to be nothing can be chosen.

THE THREAD

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

Psalm 75:7 · KJV

Isaiah’s shoftei (⁨שֹׁפְטֵי⁩, shoftei: judges) and the Psalm’s shofet (⁨שֹׁפֵט⁩, shofet: judge) share the root shaphat (⁨שפט⁩, shaphat: judge or govern). That shared seed turns the line back on earthly authority: those who judge the earth remain beneath the judgment that can lower or raise them.

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