What Does Isaiah 57:16 Mean in the King James?
For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
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
God limits his anger because endless contention would overwhelm the breath and living selves he made.
THE MEANING
God does not contend with you forever or stay angry without end; your breath would give way under such unrelenting pressure. The living selves he made are not expendable to him, and his anger does not outlast his care for their life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that God’s anger toward you is endless and your frailty makes you disposable to him.
THE ROOT
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
רוח
r-w-ḥ
Wind or breath in motion; this consonantal family also carries the sense of room and relief.
The word rendered “spirit” is also the word for breath and wind. Here, the breath that could fail is not separate from the inner life English calls spirit; the verse holds them together.
ALSO GROWS
ruach: wind, breath, spirit
רוּחַ
This is the same Hebrew word behind “spirit”; the verse’s failing spirit is also failing breath, joining inner life to embodied breathing.
ravach: to have room; to find relief
רָוַח
The same consonants carry the sense of spaciousness and relief, resonating with the limit on contention as relief for a failing breath.
revach: room, relief, respite
רֶוַח
This noun makes the root’s spaciousness tangible: an end to contention leaves room for the breath and lives God made.
נְשָׁמוֹת
neshamot
GROWS FROM
נשם
n-sh-m
Breathe; breath as the animating life of a creature.
The Hebrew rendered “souls” comes from the breath-word family. Paired with ruach, it presents the lives God made as breathing lives, not as an abstract category detached from their frailty.
ALSO GROWS
neshamah: breath; living breath
נְשָׁמָה
This singular form is the source of “souls” here, placing the lives God made in a breath-rooted word family.
neshimah: breathing; respiration
נְשִׁימָה
This names the ongoing act of breathing and makes concrete how the lives in the verse can fail.
nasham: to breathe
נָשַׁם
The verb names the life-giving action at the root of “souls,” connecting the created lives to breath.
אֲרִיב
ariv
GROWS FROM
ריב
r-y-b
To dispute, contend, or strive.
“contend” in this verse is ariv. The Hebrew word names contention as a sustained dispute, while the verse sets a limit on how long it continues. Beside the failing breath and made lives, that limit reads as restraint that preserves life.
ALSO GROWS
riv: dispute; contention
רִיב
The noun keeps the conflict itself in view: God says this striving does not continue without end.
merivah: quarrel; strife
מְרִיבָה
This form names conflict between parties, making “contend” relational rather than merely an inward feeling.
THE PATTERN
God limits contention and anger so the fragile breath and life he made are not consumed.
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?THE THREAD
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;Isaiah’s “spirit” is רוּחַ (ruach, wind, breath, spirit), while “souls” comes from נְשָׁמָה (neshamah, breath). Job places both words in one line, revealing a shared breath-life field behind Isaiah’s two English terms.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us