What Does Isaiah 45:23 Mean in the King James?
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
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
God’s oath and every tongue’s oath use the same Hebrew root, so the verse ends with humanity echoing the act by which it begins.
THE MEANING
The word from God’s mouth is aligned and does not turn back. The verse places you among every knee that bends and every tongue that swears to God. The body’s bow and the mouth’s oath are two forms of the same answer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s word can fail to reach its end: the verse says it does not return, and every knee and tongue answers.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי
nishbaʿti
GROWS FROM
שׁבע
sh-b-ʿ
To swear, to bind oneself by oath.
“sworn / swear” in this verse is nishbaʿti. The Hebrew uses this root first for God’s oath and again for the oath of every tongue. English gives the clauses different subjects, while the repeated root links God’s sworn word with humanity’s response.
ALSO GROWS
nishbaʿti: To swear or bind by oath.
נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי
This is the root in the opening declaration, where God swears by himself.
tishavaʿ: To swear or make an oath.
תִּשָּׁבַע
The same root returns in the final clause, now on every tongue.
דָּבָר
davar
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
The verb means to speak; the noun can mean a word, matter, or affair.
English can make a word sound like something that simply passes. Hebrew davar also means a matter or affair, giving weight to the word that goes out and does not return.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: To speak or declare.
דִּבֶּר
It shows the spoken action carried by the word that leaves God’s mouth.
davar: A spoken word or a matter at hand.
דָּבָר
The word is also a matter with substance, not merely a sound.
צְדָקָה
tsedaqah
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
Rightness and justice; here the word carries the sense of alignment.
“righteousness” in this verse is tsedaqah. The word going out from God’s mouth is characterized by alignment. Its certainty and its rightness belong together in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: What is right or just.
צֶדֶק
It carries the same root sense of alignment found in the verse’s description of God’s word.
tsaddiq: A person characterized by rightness or justice.
צַדִּיק
This related form shows how the root can describe alignment in a person as well as in an act.
THE PATTERN
What God declares reaches its purpose and draws every knee and tongue into acknowledgment.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.THE THREAD
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.The word Isaiah calls davar (דָּבָר, davar: word or matter) is the same Hebrew noun used here for the word going out from God’s mouth. Both verses join its departure to its certain nonreturn, placing this oath within a repeated claim about what God’s word does.
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