What Does Isaiah 56:8 Mean in the King James?
The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
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 same Hebrew root names God as the gatherer, the act of gathering, and the people as gathered.
THE MEANING
The Lord gathers those pushed outside and keeps gathering beyond those already gathered. Exclusion is not the last word over the ones the Lord draws near.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This verse dissolves the belief that those already gathered are the whole circle: the Lord continues to draw others in.
THE ROOT
מְקַבֵּץ
məqabbēṣ
GROWS FROM
קבץ
q-b-ṣ
Gather, collect, assemble.
“gathereth” in this verse is məqabbēṣ. The Hebrew repeats this root for the one gathering, the promise “I will gather,” and the people already gathered. English separates these forms, while Hebrew holds them as one continuous action.
ALSO GROWS
ʾăqabbēṣ: I will gather.
אֲקַבֵּץ
This is the same root in God’s promise to gather others, extending the action beyond those already gathered.
niqbāṣāv: His gathered ones.
נִקְבָּצָיו
The people gathered into the circle bear the same root as the one who gathers them.
qābaṣ: To gather or assemble.
קָבַץ
This root’s basic action binds the gatherer, the gathering, and the gathered into one movement.
נִדְחֵי
niddəḥê
GROWS FROM
נדח
n-d-ḥ
Push away, drive out, banish.
The Hebrew word carries the action of being driven away; “outcasts” can sound like a settled identity in English. The repeated gathering answers that displacement by bringing the driven-out ones into the circle.
ALSO GROWS
niddāḥ: A driven-away person; an outcast.
נִדָּח
This form names someone by the force that pushed them away, the very ones the verse says God gathers.
hiddiaḥ: To drive away or lead astray.
הִדִּיחַ
It shows the root’s force as active displacement, giving the gathering its full counter-movement.
THE PATTERN
God’s gathering extends beyond those already inside the circle.
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.THE THREAD
Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.Zephaniah uses the same q-b-ṣ root in God’s promise, “I will gather her that was driven out.” The root joins Isaiah’s outcasts and the others gathered alongside them in one continuing action.
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