What Does Isaiah 55:12 Mean in the King James?
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
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 wholeness carrying you forward is so full that even the landscape joins your joy.
THE MEANING
You are going out with joy and being led forward in wholeness. The mountains and hills break into song before you, and the trees of the field clap their hands. The change opening before you reaches beyond private relief: the land itself is pictured answering it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that peace means a life without movement or sound: here, wholeness leads you onward amid singing and applause.
THE ROOT
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; to make whole or repay.
The “peace” carrying you forward includes wholeness, not only quiet. Its word-family connects completeness with making good what is owed and with well-being offerings, so the song and clapping around you fit a fullness shared beyond the self.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes clear that shalom is a state of completeness, giving “peace” in the verse the depth of wholeness.
shillem: To repay, recompense, or make restitution
שִׁלֵּם
The root’s sense of making good what is owed links wholeness with repair.
shelamim: Well-being offerings, also called peace offerings
שְׁלָמִים
This branch gives the root a shared, communal dimension that echoes the public joy of the singing hills and clapping trees.
THE PATTERN
When deliverance opens a way, the created world joins the human joy.
Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful togetherBecause the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.THE THREAD
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!Isaiah 52:7 uses the same Hebrew word שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) as this verse, placing it on the mountains in the good news carried toward Zion. The mountains that sing here are also the terrain where wholeness is announced.
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