What Does Isaiah 41:26 Mean in the King James?
Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
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
Here, to declare is to make a word stand out in front of others, and no one can bring that prior word forward.
THE MEANING
The verse asks who announced what was coming beforehand, so the speaker could be recognized as aligned. No one is found making the claim known, making it heard, or hearing the words. Without that prior witness, a claim cannot establish its own rightness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A claim does not prove itself right just by being spoken confidently; this verse asks whether anyone declared it beforehand.
THE ROOT
הִגִּיד
higgid
GROWS FROM
נגד
n-g-d
To stand out or be made conspicuous; hence to make known, report, or declare.
English gives you a neutral “declared,” but the root carries the sense of bringing something out in front to be seen. The verse asks for just such a word from beforehand, then says no one can bring it forward.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: One who tells or makes something known.
מַגִּיד
The verse repeats this form when it says there is no one declaring, underlining the missing witness.
neged: In front of, or opposite.
נֶגֶד
This related form makes the image vivid: a declaration brings a matter out in front, where it can be heard and assessed.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
The verse links a prior declaration with the ability to call someone righteous, or aligned. The question is whether that standing is supported by a word spoken beforehand.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
It names the quality the verse asks whether anyone can recognize in the one who declared.
tsedaqah: Rightness or justice expressed in right relation.
צְדָקָה
This branch shows that alignment is more than a label: it is something made visible in relation and action.
THE PATTERN
A claim about what is coming is weighed by whether it was spoken beforehand and can be recognized afterward.
When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.THE THREAD
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:Isaiah 46:10 uses the same root, נגד (n-g-d, “make known” or “declare”), for declaring what is still ahead. Isaiah 41:26 asks for a prior word as evidence; this verse shows that word spoken from the beginning.
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