What Does Isaiah 49:5 Mean in the King James?
And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
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 verse holds an unfinished mission beside a weighty standing before the LORD, so the outcome does not measure the servant’s worth.
THE MEANING
You can be shaped for service while the thing you are sent to gather remains unresolved. Your weight in the LORD’s sight does not wait for that gathering to succeed; God is your strength within the unfinished work.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that if the people or work you are meant to gather remain scattered, then you have failed and carry no weight.
THE ROOT
וְאִכָּבֵד
ve’ikkāvēḏ
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be heavy or weighty; here, to be honored, to carry weight.
The word translated “glorious” carries the sense of weight: you are weighty in the LORD’s eyes even while Israel is not gathered. The verse places divine regard alongside unfinished work, without making one wait for the other.
ALSO GROWS
kavod: Weight; glory.
כָּבוֹד
It makes the verse’s “glorious” standing a matter of weight and regard.
kaved: Heavy; weighty.
כָּבֵד
This is the root’s concrete sense beneath the honor expressed in the verse.
kibbēd: To honor; to treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
It shows how the root’s sense of weight extends into the act of honoring.
יְצָרַנִי
yəṣārānî
GROWS FROM
יצר
To form or shape.
The word for being formed is also used for a potter shaping something. The verse joins that shaping to service from the womb: the calling is present before its visible result is complete.
ALSO GROWS
yōṣēr: Former; potter.
יֹצֵר
The potter image makes the act of forming tangible: a life is shaped, not merely assigned a label.
yēṣer: Formation; inclination or design.
יֵצֶר
This branch carries the idea of an inwardly shaped direction, echoing the servant’s purpose.
עֻזִּי
ʿuzzî
GROWS FROM
עזז
To be strong; strength or might.
The verse names God as the servant’s strength while the gathering remains incomplete. Strength is present within the unfinished work, not only after a visible success.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōz: Strength; might.
עֹז
This noun names the strength that the verse locates in God.
ʿaz: Strong; forceful.
עַז
The shared root gives strength the quality of firmness, not a measure of achievement.
māʿōz: Stronghold; refuge.
מָעוֹז
This related word shows strength as a place of protection and support.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s regard and strength remain present while visible work is unfinished.
Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.THE THREAD
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.The Hebrew word for “my strength” in both verses grows from עזז, the root of strength and might. Isaiah’s servant names God as strength while Israel remains ungathered; the psalm gives that same strength as help held alongside trust.
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