What Does Isaiah 60:4 Mean in the King James?
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
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 returning are not merely counted as present; they are gathered close enough to be held, steadied, and nourished.
THE MEANING
You see what distance obscures gathering toward you: sons arrive from far away, while daughters are carried close and sustained at your side. Reunion becomes more than arrival; it takes the shape of touch, nourishment, and steady care.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that distance has made belonging impossible. The verse pictures those far away returning into closeness and care.
THE ROOT
תֵּאָמַנָה
teʾāmānnāh
GROWS FROM
אמן
To support, hold firm, and foster; to make steady.
“nursed” in this verse is teʾāmānnāh. The daughters are not simply fed: this word carries the sense of being supported and fostered, held into steadiness at someone’s side. The root joins nurture with reliable support.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāmēn: Firm, steady; “Amen.”
אָמֵן
This branch carries the sense of what is established and dependable, echoing the steady support in being nursed.
ʾōmēn: Fosterer, guardian, nursing caregiver.
אֹמֵן
Numbers 11:12 uses this word for a nursing father who carries a child in his bosom, making the caregiving in Isaiah’s image especially tangible.
נִקְבְּצוּ
niqbetzu
GROWS FROM
קבץ
To gather, collect, assemble.
“gather themselves together” in this verse is niqbetzu. The root presents the return as convergence: those who were apart are coming into shared nearness. Beside the daughters being supported at your side, gathering becomes not only reunion but closeness that can hold and nourish.
ALSO GROWS
qibbēts: He gathered, collected.
קִבֵּץ
This verb form names the act that brings separated ones together, clarifying the movement in the verse.
qibbuts: A gathering, collection, or gathered group.
קִבּוּץ
This noun pictures the result of gathering as a company held together, rather than isolated arrivals.
THE PATTERN
Belonging survives distance as a movement of gathering and care.
Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.THE THREAD
Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?Isaiah’s “nursed” is תֵּאָמַנָה (teʾāmānnāh: supported, fostered), from אמן (aman: to support and hold firm); Numbers uses אֹמֵן (ʾōmēn: fosterer or nursing caregiver) for the one carrying a child in the bosom. The shared root opens the return as sustained holding: the child is carried close, not merely brought back.
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