What Does Isaiah 49:17 Mean in the King James?
Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
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 Hebrew “your children” echoes “your builders”: restoration hastens toward you as the destroyers go out.
THE MEANING
What grows from you is moving forward, while the forces that tear down and leave you waste go out from you. The verse holds rebuilding and release together: restoration takes shape as devastation exits.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that what has devastated you belongs to you permanently: the destroyers depart from you.
THE ROOT
בָּנַיִךְ
banayikh
GROWS FROM
בנה
banah
to build, establish
The vowel pointing reads this as “your children,” while its consonants echo “your builders.” That sound lets the verse hold returning family and rebuilding together: what belongs to you hastens forward as the destroyers leave.
ALSO GROWS
banah: to build, establish
בָּנָה
The root action behind the children-and-builders echo is rebuilding.
boneh: builder, one who builds
בּוֹנֶה
This form makes the hidden building image audible beside “your children.”
מְהָרְסַיִךְ
meharsayikh
GROWS FROM
הרס
haras
to tear down, demolish
“destroyers” in this verse is meharsayikh. The word names those who tear down, while the sentence says they go out from you. Their destructive work does not define the place they have damaged; the verse pictures them departing.
ALSO GROWS
haras: to tear down, demolish
הָרַס
This is the action carried by the destroyers in the verse.
harisah: demolition, destruction
הֲרִיסָה
The noun shows the destructive work as something distinct from the place it has harmed.
יֵצֵאוּ
yetse’u
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
to go out, emerge
The destroyers themselves are the subject of “go forth”: they exit from the one they have made waste. The root gives the promise a direction, outward, away from you.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: to go out, emerge
יָצָא
This is the movement the verse assigns to the destroyers.
hotsi: to bring out, cause to exit
הוֹצִיא
The causative form makes the root’s movement outward explicit.
THE PATTERN
Restoration takes shape as what was ruined is rebuilt and what caused the ruin passes away.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.THE THREAD
The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.The Hebrew בָּנַיִךְ (banayikh, “your children”) shares its consonants with בֹּנַיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builders”), drawing family and rebuilding into one sound. Psalm 147:2 makes that building image explicit as Jerusalem is built and its outcasts are gathered.
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