What Does Isaiah 5:27 Mean in the King James?
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
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 menace is total continuity: neither the body nor its gear shows any opening for delay or failure.
THE MEANING
The advancing force does not tire, falter, lapse into sleep, or lose any part of its equipment. Its threat is felt in the absence of every ordinary break in motion: body and gear stay ready.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that an advancing threat will eventually tire, stumble, or leave a loose point to exploit.
THE ROOT
יִיגָעוּ
yigāʿū
GROWS FROM
יגע
y-g-ʿ
to toil or labor; to become weary
“weary” in this verse is yigāʿū. The verse uses the same root for exertion and the weariness that follows it. Its force is pictured as moving on without reaching the fatigue that usually comes from sustained labor.
ALSO GROWS
yāgaʿ: to labor, toil, or grow weary
יָגַע
The verb holds labor and exhaustion in one word-family, making the absence of weariness a sign of uninterrupted exertion.
yəgīaʿ: toil, labor, or the fruit of exertion
יְגִיעַ
This noun makes the strain concrete: the verse describes a force that does not show the usual cost of continued movement.
יִכָּשֵׁלוּ
yikkāšəlū
GROWS FROM
כשל
k-sh-l
to stumble, falter, or fail
“stumble” in this verse is yikkāšəlū. The root connects a body’s misstep with failure more broadly. Its branch מִכְשׁוֹל (mikhshol, a stumbling block or obstacle) shows how a falter can become the thing that stops movement; here, no such break appears.
ALSO GROWS
kāshal: to stumble, falter, or fail
כָּשַׁל
The verb gathers physical misstep and failure into the same root, sharpening what the force in this verse does not do.
mikhshol: a stumbling block or obstacle
מִכְשׁוֹל
The noun names what can interrupt movement, making the absence of stumbling a picture of unimpeded advance.
נִפְתַּח
niftaḥ
GROWS FROM
פתח
p-t-ḥ
to open or make an opening
The word translated “loosed” also carries the sense of being opened. The belt stays closed and secure, so the picture of readiness extends from the moving body to the gear that holds it together.
ALSO GROWS
pātaḥ: to open
פָּתַח
The verb names the opening that the verse says does not happen to the belt.
petaḥ: an entrance or opening
פֶּתַח
This noun shares the root’s image of an opening; here, even that small vulnerability in the gear is absent.
THE PATTERN
Unbroken force or vigilance is pictured through the absence of sleep, faltering, and breaks in movement.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:THE THREAD
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.Isaiah 40:31 uses the same Hebrew root יגע (y-g-ʿ, to toil or become weary) for “not be weary.” Here that endurance sharpens the threat of the advancing force; there, it describes strength renewed for those who wait upon the LORD.
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