What Does Isaiah 5:8 Mean in the King James?
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
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
Possession can expand until it consumes the very space in which anyone, including its owner, can live.
THE MEANING
The verse names what happens when someone keeps extending their holdings across house and field: shared room disappears. The ending is stark, the person occupies the land’s center alone. The more space they claim, the less room remains for life beside them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that more ownership guarantees more security dissolves here: taking up every space ends in isolation.
THE ROOT
יַקְרִיבוּ
yaqrîvû
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
To draw near, approach, or bring close.
“lay field to field” in this verse is yaqrîvû. The verb for bringing fields near shares its root with words for what is near and for a drawing-near offering. Here, the fields are drawn closer and closer until there is no room left.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
The fields are brought into increasing nearness, until their expansion leaves no space.
korban: A drawing-near offering.
קָרְבָּן
This branch shows the same root can name an offering brought near, a connection that opens the thread to Leviticus 1:2.
מַגִּיעֵי
maggiʿê
GROWS FROM
נ־ג־ע
n-g-ʿ
To touch, reach, or make contact.
“join” in this verse is maggiʿê. The first verb pictures houses made to touch, before the next verb draws fields near. The verse’s movement is physical and cumulative: one boundary meets the next until the space between holdings vanishes.
ALSO GROWS
magaʿ: Touch, contact.
מַגָּע
It makes the image of one house pressed against another concrete.
higgiʿa: Reach, arrive.
הִגִּיעַ
This branch carries the sense of extending until a boundary or destination is reached.
מָקוֹם
maqom
GROWS FROM
קוּם
q-w-m
To stand, rise, or be established.
The word for place belongs to the root for standing and rising, giving “no place” the feel of no standing room. The verse ends with both the land and the space to stand in it exhausted by the expansion.
ALSO GROWS
qam: Stood, rose.
קָם
The root’s basic image of standing sharpens what disappears when there is no place.
heqim: Raised, set up, established.
הֵקִים
This branch suggests the setting up of a place, the very possibility the verse says has run out.
THE PATTERN
When possession expands without limit, it turns shared space into exclusion and leaves the possessor isolated.
And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.THE THREAD
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.Isaiah uses the root for bringing near as fields are drawn together until no space remains. Leviticus uses that same root for bringing an offering near to the LORD. The shared root makes the movement visible: what is brought near can fill up land, or be brought near as an offering.
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