What Does Isaiah 53:7 Mean in the King James?
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
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 silence does not erase the violence: oppression and slaughter remain in the frame while his mouth stays closed.
THE MEANING
You see a person being oppressed and afflicted, yet not opening his mouth. He is led to slaughter and stands before shearers like a sheep; the verse holds the violence and the silence together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Silence does not prove that no violence is happening or that the sufferer consents. This verse names oppression and slaughter while the mouth remains closed.
THE ROOT
יִפְתַּח
yiftach
GROWS FROM
פתח
patach
To open or make an opening.
English “opened” sounds like an ordinary speaking verb here, but the Hebrew repeats it, making the mouth itself an opening that remains unopened. The same root names doorways and keys, so the silence becomes visible as a closed opening within an explicitly violent scene, not proof that the violence is absent.
ALSO GROWS
petach: Opening; doorway; entrance.
פֶּתַח
This branch makes “opened not his mouth” an image of an entrance held closed, not merely an absence of speech.
maphteach: Key.
מַפְתֵּחַ
A key gives access by opening; beside the closed mouth, it reveals the root’s wider sense of opening, though the verse does not explain why he stays silent.
THE PATTERN
The text can hold silence and suffering together without mistaking silence for the absence of harm.
But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:THE THREAD
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.Psalm 39 uses the same Hebrew verb פתח (patach, open) in the phrase “I opened not my mouth.” Isaiah repeats that withheld opening twice beside oppression and slaughter, making the closed mouth part of the scene’s action.
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