What Does Isaiah 49:22 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
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 raised hand and the nations’ carrying shoulders are one Hebrew verb: the summons is already taking shape as care.
THE MEANING
The verse holds the reader in a scene where the divine hand rises toward peoples beyond the familiar circle, and those peoples become carriers of the children. Sons are held close; daughters are borne on shoulders. The same verb names the lifting and the carrying, making gathering and care one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that people outside your circle can only remain distant or threaten what is yours: here, they carry your children.
THE ROOT
אֶשָּׂא
’eśśā’
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, bear, or carry.
“lift / carried” in this verse is ’eśśā’. The Hebrew verb נָשָׂא (nasa, to lift or carry) appears first as God lifting a hand and again as the daughters being carried. English gives those actions different words, but the verse binds the raised summons to the care that follows it.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: To lift, bear, or carry.
נָשָׂא
This is the verb behind both God’s lifting of the hand and the daughters’ being carried on shoulders.
massa: A burden or load; something borne.
מַשָּׂא
This branch extends the root’s carrying motion from people to what they bear.
nasi: A prince or leader; one raised up.
נָשִׂיא
The branch keeps the root’s upward motion, suggesting that being raised carries responsibility as well as status.
THE PATTERN
Restoration becomes visible when people carry those who are returning.
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.THE THREAD
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.The same root, נשא (nasa, to lift or carry), appears here as “borne” and “carried.” Isaiah links children carried toward home with griefs and sorrows borne: carrying is the shared motion.
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