What Does Isaiah 65:15 Mean in the King James?
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
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
A name can outlive its bearer as a curse, while the LORD’s call gives his servants another nature to live under.
THE MEANING
This verse confronts you with the afterlife of a name: the LORD slays the one whose name remains as a curse among his chosen, then calls his servants by another name. The judgment is not softened, and neither is the change of identity, the old name remains in public speech while the LORD gives his servants another.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the name attached to you fixes your identity dissolves here: the LORD calls his servants by another name. Yet the verse keeps its hard edge: the judged are slain, and their name remains as a curse.
THE ROOT
שֵׁם
shem
GROWS FROM
שׂים
To set or place; shem is associated with what sets a person in public notice, their designation and renown.
A name is more than a label: it is the identity that remains in public speech after the bearer is gone. The verse holds the same word in two conditions, a name that becomes a curse and another name given by the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
shem: Name, renown, reputation
שֵׁם
The name remains among the chosen as a curse even after its bearer is slain.
sim: Set, place
שׂים
The association suggests a name as what sets a person into public view and memory.
קָרָא
qara
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־א
q-r-ʾ
To call aloud, proclaim, or read.
Qara makes the act public: to call is also to proclaim. The new name is not merely private reassurance; it is a changed identity voiced by the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qeri’ah: Calling, reading
קְרִיאָה
It carries the same movement of voicing words aloud that makes a name known.
miqra: Proclamation, reading; assembly
מִקְרָא
A name proclaimed can gather public memory around the identity it carries.
שְׁבוּעָה
shevuah
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ב־ע
sh-b-ʿ
To swear; an oath or sworn declaration.
The Hebrew word rendered “curse” here is shevuah, an oath: the name becomes a formula spoken among the chosen. Its memory stays active as a sworn warning rather than simply disappearing.
ALSO GROWS
nishba: Swore, took an oath
נִשְׁבַּע
It shows the spoken, binding force carried by the name left behind.
shevuah: Oath
שְׁבוּעָה
The name is preserved in speech as an invoked formula among the chosen.
THE PATTERN
A name carries public identity, and the LORD can give a person or people a new one.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.THE THREAD
And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.Both verses place קרא (qara, to call or proclaim) beside שֵׁם (shem, name as nature). Here a name remains as a curse; Isaiah 62:2 shows the LORD calling his people by a new name.
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