What Does Isaiah 51:10 Mean in the King James?
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
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 rescued are not merely removed from the deep; the deep itself becomes their road.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now through an image of deliverance: the deep that blocks movement can become a route across it. The ransomed are reclaimed and given passage through the waters. Rescue appears as both belonging restored and a way opened.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every obstruction must disappear before passage is possible. Here, a way is made through the deep itself.
THE ROOT
גְּאוּלִים
ge'ulim
GROWS FROM
גאל
g-ʾ-l
Redeem, reclaim, or act as a kinsman to restore what belongs within the family.
“ransomed” in this verse is ge'ulim. The word carries the sense of reclaiming; its branch go’el names the kinsman who acts to redeem. The people crossing are reclaimed, and the opened route is the form their deliverance takes.
ALSO GROWS
ga'al: To redeem or reclaim.
גָּאַל
This verb names the reclaiming carried by “ransomed” in the verse.
go'el: Kinsman-redeemer; one who acts to redeem a relative.
גֹּאֵל
This branch brings belonging into the picture: the ransomed are reclaimed as kin.
ge'ullah: Redemption; the act or state of being redeemed.
גְּאֻלָּה
This noun names the reclaiming that the passage pictures as a passage through the sea.
דֶּרֶךְ
derekh
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread or step; by extension, to travel along a way.
The Hebrew word for a road is tied to the act of treading: a way is something that can be stepped along. The depths become a traversable route for those who are reclaimed.
ALSO GROWS
dārak: To tread, step, or march.
דָּרַךְ
This verb connects the “way” to actual passage: the ransomed can cross it.
midrakh: A place to tread; a foothold.
מִדְרָךְ
This branch echoes the verse’s image of footing and passage where deep water would normally prevent both.
THE PATTERN
God’s deliverance makes a traversable way through waters that otherwise block passage.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.THE THREAD
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.“Redeemed” here shares the root גאל (ga’al) with “ransomed” in Isaiah 51:10. In both verses, reclaiming is joined to belonging; in Isaiah 51:10, that belonging takes shape as a way opened through the deep.
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