What Does Isaiah 49:11 Mean in the King James?
And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
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 mountain does not need to disappear; under God’s hand, it becomes the road.
THE MEANING
God’s action is alive now: mountains become passage, and roads are lifted into reach. What looks like an obstruction can become part of the way forward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a barrier must disappear before movement can happen. Here, the mountain remains in the image but becomes part of the way.
THE ROOT
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
ד־ר־ך
d-r-kh
To tread, step, or walk.
The word translated “way” carries the image of a track beneath the feet: a route is somewhere one treads, not merely an idea of where to go. The verse makes the change concrete, mountains become ground that can be walked.
ALSO GROWS
dārak: To tread, step, or march.
דָּרַךְ
The mountain becomes ground a traveler can actually tread.
midrakh: A step or place for the foot.
מִדְרָךְ
The way is made into secure footing across terrain that seemed to block passage.
מְסִלֹּתַי
mesillotai
GROWS FROM
ס־ל־ל
s-l-l
To raise up or build into a mound or roadway.
The word for “highways” grows from the idea of raising or building up a route. Paired with the next phrase, the verse presents access as something elevated into being, not merely a flat path through the mountains.
ALSO GROWS
salal: To raise or build up, especially a road or mound.
סָלַל
The highway is an approach built upward through the landscape.
solelah: A raised embankment or ramp.
סֹלְלָה
The same root can describe a built-up approach; here, that elevation becomes a road of passage.
יְרוּמוּן
yerumun
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
To rise, be high, or lift up.
“exalted” in this verse is yerumun. The highway is not only made passable; it is raised. This root joins physical height with being lifted into prominence, so the route becomes visible as well as traversable.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High or elevated.
רָם
It echoes the height of the lifted highway.
terumah: A contribution or portion lifted up.
תְּרוּמָה
This branch carries the same movement of lifting, making the verse’s raised route part of a wider image of what is lifted into view.
THE PATTERN
What blocks movement is reshaped into a way that can be traveled.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: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.And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.THE THREAD
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Isaiah 40:3 uses the same two road words, “way” and “highway,” for a route made ready in the wilderness. Here, the image opens further: the mountains themselves become that route, and the highway is lifted up.
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