What Does Isaiah 56:6 Mean in the King James?
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
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
Here belonging crosses ancestry through attachment to the LORD, and loving the LORD’s name means loving the nature carried in that name.
THE MEANING
The stranger is welcomed through joining the LORD: serving, loving the LORD’s name, his nature, and taking hold of the covenant. Keeping the Sabbath means guarding it from being profaned. The verse speaks to you as one whose origin does not prevent belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that where you come from disqualifies you from belonging to God. This verse places the stranger within the covenant through attachment expressed in service, love, and guarded Sabbath.
THE ROOT
הַנִּלְוִים
hannilvim
GROWS FROM
לוה
l-w-h
Join, attach, accompany.
“join themselves” in this verse is hannilvim. The root carries the sense of joining or attaching, and it also appears in the name Levi, tied to being joined. The stranger’s belonging is active attachment to the LORD, not a status determined by ancestry.
ALSO GROWS
Levi: Joined or attached.
לֵוִי
The name is linked in Genesis 29:34 to the hope of being joined; here the same root describes the stranger joining the LORD.
lavah: Borrow; in a causative form, lend.
לָוָה
The root’s wider word-family can describe a bond of obligation between people; here attachment takes the form of holding to the covenant.
שֹׁמֵר
shomer
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
Guard, watch over, preserve.
“keepeth” in this verse is shomer. The word for keeping the Sabbath shares its root with guarding and watching. The verse presents Sabbath observance as protecting its set-apartness, not merely marking a day.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper, guard, watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
The Sabbath keeper carries the root’s watchful sense: keeping it means guarding it from profanation.
mishmeret: Charge, watch, guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This related word makes the root’s guarding sense visible; the Sabbath is a trust held and protected.
THE PATTERN
Belonging to the LORD crosses inherited boundaries through attachment, allegiance, and shared covenant life.
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;THE THREAD
And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.The same Hebrew joining verb returns for many nations joining the LORD and becoming his people. The shared root makes belonging an act of attachment, not a credential of origin.
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