What Does Isaiah 50:9 Mean in the King James?
Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
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
Help stands beside you before the question of condemnation is asked, while the voices that condemn are already wearing out like cloth.
THE MEANING
You are not alone before a verdict: the Lord GOD helps you, and those who condemn you do not last. Their voices are like a garment eaten by moths, losing their hold over time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that condemnation has the final word over you. This verse places the Lord GOD’s help ahead of the verdict and gives the condemning voices an ending.
THE ROOT
יַרְשִׁיעֵנִי
yarshiʿēnî
GROWS FROM
רשע
To act wickedly or be guilty; in this verb form, to declare guilty or condemn.
The word translated “condemn” grows from the same root as words for guilt and wickedness. The question reaches beyond who can accuse you: it asks who can establish that guilt as the final truth about you.
ALSO GROWS
rāšāʿ: A wicked or guilty person.
רָשָׁע
The same root links the act of condemning with the state of being judged guilty.
rešaʿ: Wickedness or guilt.
רֶשַׁע
This noun names the guilt that a condemning verdict claims to establish.
יִבְלוּ
yivlû
GROWS FROM
בלה
To wear out, become worn, or grow old.
“wax old” in this verse is yivlû. The verse uses the language of wearing out for the fate of those who condemn: their endurance is no greater than a garment’s. The moth’s eating makes that fading concrete, their apparent strength is already being consumed.
ALSO GROWS
bālāh: To wear out or grow old.
בָּלָה
This verb is the same root in a fuller form and makes the garment image a process of wearing away.
bālēh: Worn-out or old.
בָּלֶה
This adjective describes the garment’s condition and shows the root’s movement from wearing out to being worn.
יַעֲזָר
yaʿăzār
GROWS FROM
עזר
To help, support, or come to another’s aid.
The verse names help before it raises the threat of condemnation. Its root also appears in words for aid itself, giving the promise a sense of support that meets the reader where the accusation stands.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēzer: Help or aid.
עֵזֶר
This noun names the support the verse says is present.
ʿezrāh: Help or assistance.
עֶזְרָה
This related noun carries the same root into the concrete idea of aid.
THE PATTERN
Accusations lose their final authority when the LORD stands with the one they target.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.THE THREAD
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.Isaiah 50:9 and 54:17 use the same Hebrew root, רשע, for “condemn.” The first asks who can establish a condemning verdict; the later verse shows the accusation answered under the LORD’s judgment.
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