What Does Isaiah 56:9 Mean in the King James?
All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
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 verse turns two habitats into one hunting ground, summoning life itself to consume life.
THE MEANING
This line speaks as a summons to consume: the life gathered in the field is directed against the life in the forest. Its repeated “all” makes the threat feel total, crossing the boundary between one habitat and another.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that danger stays on the other side of a boundary: the consuming call reaches from the field to the forest, folding both into the same threat.
THE ROOT
חַיַּת
chayyat
GROWS FROM
חיה
To live, to be alive.
“beasts” in this verse is chayyat. Both groups are named with the same Hebrew life-word, from the root meaning “to live.” The line presents living creatures against living creatures, making the threat one of life turned against life.
ALSO GROWS
chai: Living, alive.
חַי
The same root names the condition of being alive, which lies beneath the verse’s word for beast.
chayyim: Life, living.
חַיִּים
This branch makes the shared seed explicit: both sides of the scene are forms of life.
לֶאֱכֹל
le’ĕkhol
GROWS FROM
אכל
To eat, consume.
The verb carries the plain act of eating beneath the forceful English “devour,” giving the threat bodily immediacy. With all the creatures of one place called to consume those of another, appetite becomes an image of total exposure.
ALSO GROWS
okhel: One who eats, an eater.
אֹכֵל
The eater is a direct branch of the same root that names the act threatening the forest creatures.
ma’akhal: Food, something eaten.
מַאֲכָל
This branch shows the other side of the verb: the threatened creatures are placed in the position of what is consumed.
THE PATTERN
When judgment is pictured as total exposure, the text summons creatures to a feast of flesh.
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;THE THREAD
Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.Jeremiah repeats the same Hebrew summons: חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה (chayyat hassadeh, beast or living creature of the field) and לֶאֱכֹל (le’ĕkhol, to eat or devour). There, the call follows an image of birds arrayed against a speckled creature, echoing Isaiah’s alarm of life exposed to life.
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