What Does Isaiah 9:21 Mean in the King James?
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. 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 Hebrew pictures the rival sides consuming one another, then turning together against Judah: mutual destruction becomes a shared attack, not reconciliation.
THE MEANING
This verse names a pattern that remains alive: one side consumes the other, then both turn against Judah. The violence does not settle into peace; the anger has not turned back, and the hand remains stretched out. The conflict stays unresolved and dangerous.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief this undoes is that enemies who wound one another will naturally stop being dangerous; here, mutual destruction is followed by a united assault.
THE ROOT
וַיֹּאכַל
wayyōʾkhal
GROWS FROM
אכל
ʾ-k-l
To eat or consume.
“devours” in this verse is wayyōʾkhal. Beneath the KJV’s compact phrasing, the Hebrew verb says that Manasseh eats Ephraim; the action then reverses, with Ephraim eating Manasseh. The image makes their conflict mutual consumption, which leads into their shared attack on Judah.
ALSO GROWS
ʾākal: To eat, consume.
אָכַל
This is the verb beneath the first half of the line; its reversal makes each side both eater and eaten.
maʾākāl: Food, something eaten.
מַאֲכָל
The same root names what is consumed, sharpening the image of each side becoming the other’s food.
שָׁב
shav
GROWS FROM
שוב
sh-u-v
To turn or return.
“turned away” in this verse is shav. The Hebrew verb comes from the root for turning or returning. The anger has not turned back, so the verse holds the response open even after the factions have turned together against Judah.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn, return.
שׁוּב
This root gives the phrase its sense of anger not turning back.
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This related form makes the absent turn clearer: the anger has not returned or subsided.
נְטוּיָה
netuyah
GROWS FROM
נטה
n-ṭ-h
To stretch out, extend, incline.
“stretched out” in this verse is netuyah. The hand is pictured as still extended, its posture continuing rather than withdrawn. The root also carries the sense of inclination, leaving the hand directed toward what is under threat.
ALSO GROWS
natah: To stretch out, extend, incline.
נָטָה
This is the verb behind the hand’s position: it remains extended.
netiyyah: Inclination, extension.
נְטִיָּה
The related form underscores a directed posture that remains in place.
THE PATTERN
When conflict consumes relationships within a people, its violence can continue or widen instead of resolving.
Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren?But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:THE THREAD
Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.Isaiah repeats the same refrain after another scene of violence: the anger has not turned back, and the hand remains extended. The repeated wording makes that continuing posture a thread through the passage’s successive forms of harm.
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