What Does Isaiah 52:14 Mean in the King James?
As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
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 language of ruin reaches both sides of the gaze: his appearance is ravaged, and those who see him are left appalled, almost desolate.
THE MEANING
You are brought face to face with a human form so ravaged that those looking at him are appalled; the damage exceeds ordinary human comparison. The verse holds that violence in the visible body itself.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁחָת
mishchat
GROWS FROM
שחת
shachat
Ruin, destroy, corrupt.
“marred” in this verse is mishchat. The Hebrew word carries the force of ruin, not merely an unusual appearance. It lets the physical disfigurement remain severe: this is a body bearing devastation.
ALSO GROWS
shachat: To ruin, destroy, corrupt.
שָׁחַת
This verb gives the appearance language the force of devastation rather than a minor blemish.
mashchit: Destroyer; one who ruins.
מַשְׁחִית
The same root can name an agent of destruction, underscoring how far the word lies from cosmetic damage.
שָׁמְמוּ
shamemu
GROWS FROM
שמם
shamem
Be appalled or become desolate.
“astonied” in this verse is shamemu. The reaction is more than detached surprise: the Hebrew term also belongs to the language of desolation. The sight leaves the watchers appalled in a word that echoes ruin.
ALSO GROWS
shamem: To be appalled or laid waste.
שָׁמֵם
This verb joins the onlookers’ stunned reaction to the language of desolation.
shemamah: Desolation, devastation.
שְׁמָמָה
The noun shows the same root’s reach into the state of being laid waste, deepening the force of their response.
תֹּאַר
to'ar
GROWS FROM
תאר
ta'ar
Mark out an outline; form or figure.
The word names visible shape or figure, making the body itself part of the verse’s focus. The same word appears again in the next chapter as the song describes the form in which he is seen.
ALSO GROWS
to'ar: Form, figure, outline.
תֹּאַר
Isaiah 53:2 repeats this word in “no form,” tying the servant’s appearance across the two verses.
yefeh to'ar: Beautiful of form or figure.
יְפֵה תֹּאַר
Genesis 39:6 uses this phrase for Joseph’s appearance, showing the same form-language describing a figure seen as beautiful.
THE PATTERN
A suffering body becomes a sight that exposes both the violence done and the response of those who look.
I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!THE THREAD
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.Isaiah 53:2 repeats תֹּאַר (to’ar, form), the same word used here for his form. The shared word holds together the ruined appearance in this verse and the absence of desirable form in the next.
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