What Does Isaiah 40:6 Mean in the King James?

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

Isaiah 40:6 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verse places not only your body but even its finest goodness among things that bloom and pass.

THE MEANING

Your embodied life is real and tender, yet it is not permanent; even the faithful love expressed through it is like a field flower. The image names both its beauty and its season.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The good you express does not have to last forever to be real.

THE ROOT

חַסְדּוֹ

chasdo

GROWS FROM

חסד

Faithful love, loyal kindness; the verse uses the word with a suffix meaning “its.”

The word translated “goodliness” carries the sense of chesed: faithful love expressed in relationship. The verse says that even this goodness, not only outward beauty, is like a flower in its season.

ALSO GROWS

chesed: Faithful love

חֶסֶד

This branch reveals that the verse’s “goodliness” includes loyal, loving action, not just attractive appearance.

chasid: A faithful or devoted person

חָסִיד

This related word describes a person marked by chesed; even that devoted character belongs to the flower-like goodness the verse describes.

THE PATTERN

Human life and its visible goodness flourish briefly, like grass and field flowers.

As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

Psalm 103:15 · KJVA person’s days and flourishing take the same shape as Isaiah’s image: brief, living growth.

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

Job 14:2 · KJVHuman life appears in beauty and then passes, like a flower cut from the field.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

1 Peter 1:24 · KJVThe image names both flesh and human splendor as things that wither and fall.

THE THREAD

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

1 Peter 1:24 · KJV

Peter echoes Isaiah’s image, making explicit that human flesh is grass and human excellence is its flower. The next line points to what endures, sharpening the contrast this verse opens.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us