What Does Isaiah 55:8 Mean in the King James?
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, 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 LORD’s thoughts are formed designs, while his ways are paths taken, the verse sets both beyond the limits of your own measure.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s intention and the path it takes exceed the limits of your present understanding. The verse names that distance without pretending you can already see how the two fit together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what you cannot understand must be random or absent: the verse places the limit in your horizon, not in the LORD’s thought or way.
THE ROOT
מַחְשְׁבֹתַי
machshevotai
GROWS FROM
חשב
To think, reckon, devise, or form a plan.
The word translated “thoughts” is machshevotai, from chashav: to think, reckon, or devise. Its range reaches beyond passing ideas to plans and designs, so the contrast concerns what the LORD intends, not only what he thinks.
ALSO GROWS
chashav: To think, reckon, or devise.
חָשַׁב
This verb is the seed behind “thoughts,” linking them to deliberate consideration and design.
machashavah: A thought, plan, or design.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This noun makes the verse’s “thoughts” tangible as plans or designs, not merely opinions.
דַּרְכֵיכֶם
darkheikhem
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread, travel, or make one’s way.
The word translated “ways” is darkheikhem, from derek: a road, course, or manner of going. Its root carries the image of treading a path, so the verse sets the LORD’s design beside the route it takes.
ALSO GROWS
derek: A road, path, or manner of going.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the noun behind “ways,” joining a course of action to the path one travels.
darakh: To tread or set foot on a path.
דָּרַךְ
The verb preserves the physical image inside “way”: a path is a course made by treading.
THE PATTERN
Scripture describes the LORD’s purpose as deeper than human calculation and his paths as beyond human tracing.
O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!THE THREAD
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.Isaiah’s “thoughts” and Jeremiah’s “thoughts” come from the same Hebrew root, חשב (chashav), meaning to think, reckon, or devise. The design that exceeds your measure is also described as an intention directed toward you.
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