What Does Isaiah 65:18 Mean in the King James?
But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
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 opening “be glad” and “rejoice” return as the very nature of Jerusalem and her people: the joy you are called into is what is being created.
THE MEANING
You are addressed inside a joy that does not depend on manufacturing the right mood: gladness is the shape of the world being created. Jerusalem is made rejoicing, and her people are made joy, so delight belongs to their shared life. The verse presents joy as part of what is brought into being, not merely a feeling summoned on command.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that joy is only a feeling you must produce on your own is undone: here it is the nature of the place and people God creates.
THE ROOT
גילה
gilah
GROWS FROM
גיל
gil
to rejoice, exult
The opening call to “rejoice” and the description of Jerusalem as “a rejoicing” grow from the same root. English separates an action from a quality; Hebrew lets Jerusalem carry the very root of rejoicing.
ALSO GROWS
vegilu: and rejoice
וְגִילוּ
This is the opening call in the verse, sharing its root with Jerusalem’s description as a rejoicing.
vegalti: and I will rejoice
וְגַלְתִּי
In Isaiah 65:19, the speaker rejoices in Jerusalem, turning the city’s name as rejoicing into a lived response.
משוש
masos
GROWS FROM
שוש
sus
to rejoice, be glad
The opening “be glad” and the closing “joy” share this root. The people’s joy is not separate from the gladness the verse calls forth; both branch from the same seed.
ALSO GROWS
sisu: be glad; rejoice
שִׂישׂוּ
This opening form shares its root with the joy named as the nature of Jerusalem’s people.
sason: gladness; joy
שָׂשׂוֹן
This related noun carries the same root into Isaiah 51:3, where joy and gladness are found in restored Zion.
בורא
bore
GROWS FROM
ברא
bara
to create, bring forth
The verse says “I create” twice, then names what is created through its character: Jerusalem is rejoicing and her people are joy. Joy is part of the form of this creation, not an emotion added afterward.
ALSO GROWS
nivra: is created; was created
נִבְרָא
This passive form shows the other side of the creating in the verse: what is brought forth receives its being.
beri'ah: creation
בְּרִיאָה
This noun names the work of bringing forth that the verse presents as a place and people shaped by joy.
THE PATTERN
When God renews a place and its people, joy becomes a shared condition of restored life.
For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.THE THREAD
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.The two joy roots in this verse return as the speaker’s own rejoicing in Jerusalem and joy in the people. What is created as the people’s nature becomes shared delight, while weeping and crying disappear.
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