What Does Isaiah 57:12 Mean in the King James?

I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.

Isaiah 57:12 · KJV

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 separates a claim of rightness from the power to benefit: naming the good does not make it able to deliver.

THE MEANING

The verse exposes a gap between the alignment you can declare and what actually benefits you: your deeds can be brought into view, yet they cannot secure you. It speaks wherever a record of good action is being treated as protection.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie it undoes is that a good record guarantees safety, or that calling yourself righteous makes you secure.

THE ROOT

צִדְקָתֵךְ

tsidqatekh

GROWS FROM

צדק

ṣ-d-q

Alignment; what is right or just.

The root links righteousness to alignment, not merely to a claim about being good. The verse sets that claimed alignment beside its deeds, then asks whether either actually helps you.

ALSO GROWS

tsedeq: Rightness, justice, or alignment.

צֶדֶק

It shows that the word’s root carries a sense of what is set right, beyond a personal label of righteousness.

tsaddiq: A person who is righteous or just.

צַדִּיק

This branch names someone characterized by alignment, connecting the abstract claim to the person and their conduct.

tsedaqah: Righteousness or just action.

צְדָקָה

It keeps alignment connected to what is done, echoing the verse’s pairing of righteousness with works.

יוֹעִילוּךְ

yo'ilukh

GROWS FROM

יעל

y-ʿ-l

To be useful, beneficial, or of avail.

The word translated “profit” asks whether something proves useful or avails; it is not limited to financial gain. The verse says that a declaration of righteousness and a record of deeds do not become the help you need.

ALSO GROWS

ho'il: To benefit, be useful, or avail.

הוֹעִיל

This verb form makes the question of usefulness explicit: do these things actually help?

to'elet: Benefit or usefulness.

תּוֹעֶלֶת

This related noun keeps the focus on practical benefit, clarifying what the verse says the deeds fail to provide.

THE PATTERN

A record of accomplishment cannot manufacture lasting value or secure a claim to rightness.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:11 · KJVThe speaker examines the work itself and finds that effort alone does not guarantee lasting benefit.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Luke 18:14 · KJVThe verse overturns a self-declared claim to rightness and shows that it does not secure the standing its speaker expects.

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:9 · KJVIt names the limit of works as a basis for boasting, echoing the gap between deeds and what can truly secure you.

THE THREAD

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

Isaiah 58:8 · KJV

The same root for righteousness returns as alignment that goes before you, rather than a claim declared about yourself. Its placement after the release of burdens and shared bread in the surrounding verses gives the word a concrete shape.

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