What Does Isaiah 9:17 Mean in the King James?
Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
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 verse pairs יְרַחֵם (yeraḥem, “show compassion”) with שָׁב (shav, “turned back”): compassion is withheld while the anger has not turned back, so the hand remains extended.
THE MEANING
The verse places a whole community under judgment: folly fills every mouth, compassion is withheld from the fatherless and widows, and the Lord’s anger has not turned back. The hand remains stretched out; the judgment described is still in motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that the vulnerable are automatically outside the consequences of a community’s corruption: the verse names even the fatherless and widows among those receiving no compassion.
THE ROOT
יְרַחֵם
yeraḥem
GROWS FROM
רחם
r-ḥ-m
To show compassion; the same root also names the womb.
The verb translated “have mercy” belongs to the same word family as רֶחֶם (rechem, “womb”). English “mercy” can sound abstract, while this Hebrew family gives compassion a bodily image of care; its absence toward the fatherless and widows lands sharply.
ALSO GROWS
rechem: Womb
רֶחֶם
The shared consonants connect compassion with a concrete image of gestation and care.
raḥamim: Compassion, mercies
רַחֲמִים
This noun carries the same root into the very quality the verse says is withheld.
שָׁב
shav
GROWS FROM
שוב
sh-w-b
To turn back, return.
“turned away” in this verse is shav. The Hebrew says the anger has not turned back. The repeated image of the extended hand keeps that return from happening, presenting judgment as continuing rather than already spent.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn, return
שׁוּב
This is the root movement behind the verse’s statement that the anger has not turned back.
teshuvah: Return, turning
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun preserves the same movement of return that the verse says has not occurred.
אַפּוֹ
appo
GROWS FROM
אַף
Nose or nostril; also anger and heat.
The Hebrew word for “anger” also names the nose or nostril, giving the anger a bodily image of heat. The verse holds that heat beside a hand that remains stretched out.
ALSO GROWS
af: Nose, nostril; also anger or heat
אַף
The verse’s word for anger retains the concrete image of the nostril.
erekh appayim: Slow to flare; literally, long of nostrils
אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
This expression keeps the bodily image of anger as heat in the nostrils.
THE PATTERN
A people’s condition is visible in its speech, while the consequences of that condition continue beyond the speaker.
Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.THE THREAD
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.Isaiah’s “have mercy” and Psalm 103’s “pitieth” draw on the same root, רחם (r-ḥ-m), meaning to show compassion. That shared root places the withheld compassion toward the fatherless and widows beside the image of a father’s tenderness toward children.
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