What Does Isaiah 8:3 Mean in the King James?
And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
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 child’s name compresses a countdown into one utterance: the plunder is swift, and the prey hastens.
THE MEANING
A warning takes a human name, making the coming seizure sound like something already in motion. The name joins speed with plunder, so the danger is spoken as a concrete event rather than an abstraction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A name is only a label. Here, the name carries the coming event in its own words.
THE ROOT
מַהֵר
maher
GROWS FROM
מהר
m-h-r
to hurry, be swift
“swift” in this verse is maher. The name opens with speed, framing the plunder as already rushing forward. A second word in the name, חָשׁ (ḥāsh, hastens), uses another root for haste, doubling the sense of urgency.
ALSO GROWS
meherah: Quickly; soon
מְהֵרָה
It carries the same acceleration heard at the start of the child’s name.
mahir: Swift; quick
מָהִיר
This related form keeps the name’s emphasis on an event moving fast.
שָׁלָל
shalal
GROWS FROM
שלל
sh-l-l
to plunder; spoil seized as booty
This root joins the act of plundering with what is taken. The same root appears in the next verse for Samaria’s “spoil,” which opens the event held inside the name.
ALSO GROWS
shalal: Booty; what is seized as plunder
שָׁלָל
This is the substance named in the child’s name and specified in the next verse.
shalal: To seize as spoil
שָׁלַל
The related verb reveals the action within the noun: the spoil is what plundering takes.
בַּז
baz
GROWS FROM
בזז
b-z-z
to plunder; seize as booty
“prey” in this verse is baz. This is a second root for plunder within the name, alongside שָׁלָל (shalal, spoil). The name stacks two words for seizure beneath its repeated urgency.
ALSO GROWS
baz: Booty; plunder
בַּז
It supplies the name’s final image of what is seized.
bizzah: Plunder; booty taken
בִּזָּה
This related noun carries the same act of seizure into another form.
THE PATTERN
A name can bind a person’s identity to the meaning or event the name announces.
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.Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.THE THREAD
For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.The name’s שָׁלָל (shalal, spoil) reappears here as “spoil,” and the verse gives the name a measure of time: before the child can speak, Samaria’s plunder is taken. The next verse opens the event already compressed into the child’s name.
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