What Does Isaiah 48:3 Mean in the King James?
I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
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
What arrives suddenly has already been going out from the mouth.
THE MEANING
What God speaks is already in motion before you see it: it goes out from the mouth, is made heard, is done, and comes to pass. Its arrival can be sudden even when its word is already present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what has not yet appeared is not yet in motion: the verse says the word has gone forth before the event comes to pass.
THE ROOT
יָצָאוּ
yāṣāʾû
GROWS FROM
יצא
To go out or come forth.
“they went forth” in this verse is yāṣāʾû. The Hebrew says the former things went out from the mouth: speech itself is pictured as a going-out. The same root names both utterance proceeding from the LORD’s mouth and the movement of being brought out from constriction.
ALSO GROWS
motsa: Going out; that which proceeds or issues forth.
מוֹצָא
Deuteronomy 8:3 uses this noun for the word that “proceedeth out of the mouth” of the LORD, echoing the mouth-to-world movement in this verse.
hotze'tikha: I brought you out.
הוֹצֵאתִיךָ
In Exodus 20:2, this form names being brought out of Mitzrayim; the root’s movement from within to without also carries the sense of release.
וְאַשְׁמִיעֵם
ve'ashmi'em
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear or listen; in this form, to cause to hear.
“I shewed them” in this verse is ve'ashmi'em. The Hebrew verb is causative from “hear”: it says, “I caused them to hear.” What the KJV presents as showing is also disclosure received through hearing, before the events come to pass.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear or listen.
שָׁמַע
The root makes hearing part of how the declared things are disclosed, rather than leaving revelation as something merely seen.
shemu'ah: A report, news, or hearing.
שְׁמוּעָה
This related noun can name what is heard and received, connecting the act of making something heard with the report that reaches its listener.
THE PATTERN
What God speaks goes forth into action and becomes visible in its time.
For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.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.And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE THREAD
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.Isaiah says the former things “went forth” from God’s mouth; Deuteronomy uses a noun from that same יצא root for what proceeds from the LORD’s mouth. The shared root pictures the spoken word as an outgoing movement, and Deuteronomy shows that this word is also what sustains life.
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