What Does Isaiah 66:3 Mean in the King James?
He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
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 ritual does not stand alone: the living soul that brings it has already chosen its path and its delight.
THE MEANING
Animal sacrifice and incense stand beside the killing of a person, the cutting of a dog’s neck, swine’s blood, and blessing an idol, each joined by the verse’s stark “as if.” The living soul has chosen its own way and takes delight in abominations; outward worship bears the character of the life that offers it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Offering something sacred makes the worshipper’s chosen conduct irrelevant.
THE ROOT
חָפֵצָה
ḥāfēṣâ
GROWS FROM
חפץ
ḥ-p-ṣ
To desire or take pleasure in.
“delighteth” in this verse is ḥāfēṣâ. The verse describes an active appetite: the living self takes pleasure in what it calls abominable. The same root can name delight in what is whole or what is corrupt; the object of desire is the hinge.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēp̄eṣ: Desire, pleasure, or purpose.
חֵפֶץ
This noun names what someone wants or takes pleasure in, giving the verse’s “delight” the force of a chosen orientation.
ḥāp̄ēṣ: To desire or take pleasure in.
חָפֵץ
The verbal form makes the appetite active: the living self is drawn toward these abominations.
נַפְשָׁם
nafsham
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
The living self or person, with senses that include life and appetite.
Here “their soul” is the living self that desires, not a detached inner compartment. The verse locates the problem in what their whole living being takes pleasure in.
ALSO GROWS
nefeš: Living soul, person, or appetite.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the core word: it can name the living person and the appetite belonging to that life.
nāpaš: To rest or refresh oneself.
נָפַשׁ
This verb shares the consonants and keeps the word family close to lived experience: the self that is renewed is also the self whose desires are exposed here.
בְּדַרְכֵיהֶם
bedarkheihem
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread or step along; the root gives “way” the sense of a traveled path.
Their “own ways” are paths they choose and walk, not merely private opinions. The verse places that chosen direction alongside the living soul’s delight, showing outward ritual and lived desire together.
ALSO GROWS
derek: A way, road, or path.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the path they choose for themselves in the verse.
dāraḵ: To tread, step, or travel.
דָּרַךְ
The verb shows how a way is made real: it is walked.
THE PATTERN
A ritual’s character is exposed by the path and desire of the life presenting it.
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.THE THREAD
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.Isaiah and the Psalm use the same חפץ (ḥ-p-ṣ) word family for desire or delight. Isaiah says the living self takes pleasure in abominations; Psalm 1 turns the same root toward the LORD’s instruction, making the object of desire the hinge.
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