What Does Isaiah 41:23 Mean in the King James?
Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
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
A claim to divinity is put to a public test: reveal what comes next, then make your power visible.
THE MEANING
The verse challenges any power claiming the place of a god to disclose what follows and then do good or evil where people can see the result together. Its claim is known through what it reveals and enacts, not through its title alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a sacred title or image guarantees the power it names; the claim is tested by what it can reveal and do.
THE ROOT
לְאָחוֹר
le'achor
GROWS FROM
אחר
Behind, after, or afterward.
“hereafter” in this verse is le'achor. The Hebrew word for what comes afterward shares its root with what is behind. The challenge asks the claimed gods to disclose what is still beyond present sight.
ALSO GROWS
aḥărê: After, following.
אַחֲרֵי
It makes the sequence explicit: show what follows from this moment.
aḥărôn: Last, latter.
אַחֲרוֹן
The same root reaches from what comes after to what comes last, framing time as a sequence.
נֵדְעָה
nēdəʿāh
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive.
“know” in this verse is nēdəʿāh. The verse asks for knowing grounded in what is shown and done. The Hebrew root yada carries the sense of knowing or perceiving, so the claim becomes recognizable through encounter, not its name alone.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, perception.
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root links knowing with what can be recognized.
yōdēaʿ: One who knows or perceives.
יֹדֵעַ
It describes the one who knows, echoing the verse’s demand for evidence that makes recognition possible.
THE PATTERN
A claim to divine power is tested by whether it can disclose what is hidden and act in ways people can witness.
And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:THE THREAD
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.Isaiah’s challenge makes knowing depend on what is revealed and enacted; Hosea uses the same root, yada (ידע), meaning to know or perceive, for knowing the LORD as people follow on to know. Together, the verses present knowing as recognition through encounter and time.
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