What Does Isaiah 43:10 Mean in the King James?
Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
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 witness here is shaped by encounter and trust, so knowing who the LORD is becomes testimony rather than a distant claim.
THE MEANING
You are named as a witness and a chosen servant: your place in this verse is participation in what you know. To know and trust the LORD is to perceive that the one speaking is not one god among others, but the One before and beyond every formed god. The words join personal encounter with an unshared identity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must stand outside the truth as a mere observer: here, knowing and trusting make you a witness.
THE ROOT
עֵדַי
edai
GROWS FROM
עוּד
ud
To bear witness, affirm, or testify.
“witnesses” in this verse is edai. The witness is more than someone who watches; the word belongs to a family of testimony and attestation. The verse connects your witness to what you know and trust, making that knowledge something you can affirm.
ALSO GROWS
edut: Testimony or witness
עֵדוּת
The shared root makes the link between being a witness and bearing testimony visible.
he'id: To testify or call as a witness
הֵעִיד
This verb shows witness as an active act of attesting to what is known.
תֵּדְעוּ
tede'u
GROWS FROM
יָדַע
yada
To know, perceive, or recognize.
“know” in this verse is tede'u. This is knowing that involves perception and recognition, not only collecting information. The verse makes witness flow from knowing the LORD: what is perceived becomes something you can testify to.
ALSO GROWS
da'at: Knowledge or understanding
דַּעַת
This noun shows the same root at work as knowledge that is held and recognized.
yedi'ah: Knowing or knowledge
יְדִיעָה
The branch keeps the verse’s emphasis on knowing connected to the wider act of perception.
וְתַאֲמִינוּ
ve-ta'aminu
GROWS FROM
אָמַן
aman
To be firm, steady, or trustworthy; to trust.
“believe” in this verse is ve-ta'aminu. The verse’s trust rests on firmness, not mere agreement with an idea. Its sequence joins knowing with leaning your weight on the one known, then understanding the declaration, “I am he.”
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Steadiness, trust, or faithfulness
אֱמוּנָה
It shows trust as a settled firmness, the quality that supports witness.
amen: Truly; firm or so be it
אָמֵן
The familiar affirmation carries the same sense of something being firm and confirmed.
THE PATTERN
Witness takes shape when encounter and trust reveal the LORD’s unmatched identity.
Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.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 joins witness to knowing the LORD; Hosea uses the same root, ידע (yada, to know), twice: “know” and “follow on to know.” It opens witness as something grounded in continuing perception, not a one-time fact.
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