What Does Isaiah 42:9 Mean in the King James?
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
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 new is declared before its first sprout makes it visible.
THE MEANING
Your past does not contain the full measure of what can still unfold. What is new can be spoken before it has a visible form; the first sprout is the moment it becomes visible, not the whole story.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“Nothing new is happening until I can see it.”
THE ROOT
חֲדָשׁוֹת
chadashot
GROWS FROM
חדש
chadash
to be new; to renew or make new
“new things” in this verse is chadashot. English “new” can sound like merely unfamiliar, while the root also carries the sense of renewal. Its word family links newness with recurring emergence, so what is declared here can be fresh life, not only something never seen before.
ALSO GROWS
chadash: new, fresh; renew
חָדָשׁ
This is the singular form of the word family behind “new things,” with renewal present in its range.
chodesh: month; new moon
חֹדֶשׁ
The month is named through the new moon, connecting newness with a recurring appearance.
תִּצְמַחְנָה
titzmachnah
GROWS FROM
צמח
tsamach
to sprout or grow
“spring forth” in this verse is titzmachnah. The verse pictures the new as a sprout emerging into view. The declaration comes before that emergence, placing the word ahead of what the eye can yet see.
ALSO GROWS
tsemach: sprout, branch
צֶמַח
The noun names the visible growth that shares the root of the verb “spring forth.”
matzmiach: causing to grow; making sprout
מַצְמִיחַ
This form describes bringing forth growth, showing another branch of the same root’s language of emergence.
THE PATTERN
What is still unseen can already be spoken, so visibility does not mark the beginning of the new.
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.THE THREAD
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.It repeats חָדָשׁ (chadash, new or renewed) and צָמַח (tsamach, sprout or grow), joining the declaration of a new thing to its emergence. Isaiah 43:19 lets that growth become visible as a way through wilderness and rivers in the desert.
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