What Does Isaiah 54:1 Mean in the King James?
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
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 woman named barren carries the language of uprooting, yet the verse places her future household beyond the one already secured by marriage.
THE MEANING
The verse meets your present emptiness with a startling image: the one without visible fruit has more children than the household that appears secure. Her song and cry arrive before the evidence of abundance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that visible fruitfulness belongs only to those who already have the right conditions or standing.
THE ROOT
עֲקָרָה
ʿăqārāh
GROWS FROM
עקר
ʿ-q-r
Barrenness; the same consonants also occur in a verb meaning to uproot.
“barren” in this verse is ʿăqārāh. The word carries an image of what has been torn from its place. Yet the verse speaks of this apparently uprooted place bearing a household larger than the one that seems secure.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāqār: Barren; unable to bear children.
עָקָר
It names the condition the verse addresses directly.
ʿāqar: To uproot or tear out.
עָקַר
It gives barrenness an image of something removed from its place, making the promised abundance all the more startling.
בְּנֵי
benei
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build.
The word for children is linked to the verb for building. “More children” can therefore suggest not only a larger count, but a household being built where barrenness seemed to leave no foundation.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son or child.
בֵּן
This is the family word in “children of the desolate.”
banah: To build or establish.
בָּנָה
It connects the children to the building of a household.
בְּעוּלָה
beʿulah
GROWS FROM
בעל
b-ʿ-l
To be a husband or master; to possess or rule.
“married wife” in this verse is beʿulah. The word translated “married” comes from the same root as the word for husband and owner. The verse contrasts the desolate woman with one whose household status appears secured, then assigns the greater family to the desolate one.
ALSO GROWS
baʿal: Husband; also master or owner.
בַּעַל
It reveals the marital root beneath the phrase “married wife.”
baʿal: To marry or take as a wife.
בָּעַל
It shows how the same root describes the bond that marks the apparently secure household.
THE PATTERN
The condition that appears to exclude fruitfulness does not set the final measure of the life that can emerge.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.THE THREAD
For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.Galatians repeats Isaiah’s barren, desolate, and married contrast, preserving its surprise: song comes before birth, and the desolate woman has the larger family. The quotation carries Isaiah’s image into another passage without changing its central reversal.
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