What Does Isaiah 51:16 Mean in the King James?
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
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 word placed in your mouth is the seed of the world God is planting, so the hand that covers you shelters creation as it takes root.
THE MEANING
God’s words are set in your mouth, and God’s hand covers you in its shadow. In that same act, the heavens take root, the earth receives foundations, and Zion is named as God’s people. You are held within God’s making and naming.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that divine covering means mere shelter from events: the covered one also bears words within the act that plants the heavens and names a people.
THE ROOT
לִנְטֹעַ
linṭōaʿ
GROWS FROM
נטע
n-ṭ-ʿ
To plant, setting something into the ground so it can take root and grow.
“plant” in this verse is linṭōaʿ. Here the heavens are planted while the earth is founded, holding living growth and stable ground together in one picture of creation. The world takes root; it is not only assembled.
ALSO GROWS
netiʿah: Planting; a planted growth.
נְטִיעָה
This noun keeps the act of planting close to its living result: what is planted becomes growth.
nāṭūaʿ: Planted; set in place to grow.
נָטוּעַ
This form shows the state that follows the planting, the rooted condition of what has been placed.
דְּבָרַי
devarai
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; דָּבָר (dābār) can mean a word, matter, or thing.
“words” in this verse is devarai. The root holds speech and matter in one word-family: a spoken word is also a matter or thing. Isaiah places that word in a mouth in the same breath as planting heavens and founding earth, linking utterance with what takes form.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
This noun lets the words placed in the mouth carry the sense of something that takes form as reality.
dibbēr: Spoke; declared.
דִּבֵּר
This verb names the act of speaking from the same root as the words entrusted to the mouth.
THE PATTERN
God’s word takes form in creation and establishes a people within it.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.THE THREAD
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.Isaiah’s דְּבָרַי (devarai, “my words”) and the psalm’s דְּבַר (dĕvar, “word”) share the root דבר (d-b-r), which joins speaking with matter or a thing. The psalm reveals the scale of Isaiah’s image: the word placed in a mouth belongs to the same creative act by which the heavens come to be.
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