What Does Isaiah 42:3 Mean in the King James?
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
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 faint wick and crushed reed are met by one who, in the next verse, is neither dimmed nor crushed until justice is established.
THE MEANING
What is already wounded or nearly spent is not treated as disposable. The one who sees the faint ember does not extinguish it, but brings judgment toward what is true and steady. Here, justice is known by what it protects as well as by what it brings forth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that whatever is weak or nearly spent has no value, and that justice must crush it to be real.
THE ROOT
כֵהָה
kehah
GROWS FROM
כהה
k-h-h
To grow dim or faint.
“smoking” in this verse is kehah. The flax is not brightly burning; it is barely alight. The same root appears in the next verse, where the servant does not grow dim: he sustains the faint wick without losing his own resolve.
ALSO GROWS
grow dim: Lose brightness or strength.
This is the same root used for the servant’s endurance in Isaiah 42:4, linking the faint wick with the one who does not fade.
dim: Faded in sight, as with Isaac’s eyes in Genesis 27:1.
The root can describe diminished sight as well as a nearly spent flame; the image is of something whose light is fading, not gone.
רָצוּץ
ratsuts
GROWS FROM
רצץ
r-ts-ts
To crush or press down.
“bruised” in this verse is ratsuts. The reed is already crushed, yet the verse says it will not be broken further. The bruising and the breaking use different roots: the first names damage already endured, while the second is the destruction withheld.
ALSO GROWS
oppressed: Pressed down under another’s force.
The same root describes people held down by oppression, showing that the reed’s bruising is a condition it suffers, not a defect that makes it disposable.
crushed: Broken down by pressure.
Isaiah 42:4 uses this root again for what the servant himself does not become, joining care for the crushed with endurance under pressure.
אֱמֶת
emet
GROWS FROM
אמן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm, reliable, or established.
Truth here carries the sense of what is steady enough to stand and be trusted. Judgment is brought forth toward that firmness, not toward the extinguishing of whatever remains alive.
ALSO GROWS
Amen: A confirmation: so be it; it is firm.
The affirmation shares the root’s sense of reliability, echoing the verse’s movement toward what can stand.
trust: Leaning your full weight on what is reliable.
The root links truth with dependability: judgment reaches its proper end when what it establishes can be trusted.
THE PATTERN
Just judgment protects what is crushed or faint while establishing what can be trusted.
He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.THE THREAD
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.In Hebrew, the roots behind “bruised” and “discouraged” are the same, as are those behind “smoking” and “fail.” The one who refuses to finish off what is faint remains undimmed and uncrushed until justice is established.
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