What Does Isaiah 43:9 Mean in the King James?
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is 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 nations gather as a courtroom, but their multitude cannot answer the question the verse asks: who can bear witness?
THE MEANING
The assembly is pressed to account for its claims: who can declare this, show what came before, and bring witnesses? You stand in that hearing now, where testimony can be examined, and where truth can also be heard and acknowledged.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a large crowd’s agreement makes a claim true dissolves: the verse asks for witnesses, then leaves room for truth to be recognized by hearing.
THE ROOT
אֱמֶת
ʾemet
GROWS FROM
אמן
to be firm, steady, reliable
English can make “truth” sound abstract; אֱמֶת grows from the root of firmness. Here, “It is truth” is an acknowledgment of what stands when testimony is heard, linking truth to trust and to the “Amen” that affirms what is firm.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: trust; steadiness, something leaned on with full weight
אֱמוּנָה
The assembly is asked for testimony that can be relied on, not merely heard.
Amen: an affirmation that what is said stands firm
אָמֵן
The response “It is truth” echoes the act of affirming what can stand.
עֵדֵיהֶם
ʿēdêhem
GROWS FROM
עוּד
ʿûd
to testify or affirm; associated with repeating or confirming
“witnesses” in this verse is ʿēdêhem. English can make a witness sound like someone who merely observes; this root carries testimony that is affirmed or confirmed. The verse asks for testimony that can support a public claim, not simply another voice in the crowd.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēdût: testimony
עֵדוּת
The assembly must furnish testimony that can anchor its declaration.
hēʿîd: to testify, bear witness
הֵעִיד
This branch names the act the verse demands: making a claim answerable to witness.
וְיִצְדָּקוּ
wəyiṣdāqū
GROWS FROM
צדק
to be right, in alignment; to establish as just
Here, being justified means being shown to stand in alignment with what is true. The root binds being declared right to being in the right after the evidence is heard.
ALSO GROWS
ṣedeq: justice; alignment
צֶדֶק
The witnesses bear on whether the claim is aligned with what is true.
ṣaddîq: a just, aligned person
צַדִּיק
This branch shows that justification concerns standing in the right, not merely winning approval.
THE PATTERN
A claim gains standing through testimony that can be heard and examined, not merely through the number of voices repeating it.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.THE THREAD
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 same Hebrew word עֵד (ʿēd, witness) appears again: here, the nations are asked to bring witnesses; next, the LORD calls “you” his witnesses. Testimony shifts from evidence brought into the hearing to an identity the verse places before its hearer.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us