📖 Isaiah 65:17 (KJV)
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”
🔡 Original Hebrew (with transliteration and Strong’s):
כִּ֣י הִנְנִ֤י בוֹרֵא֙ שָׁמַ֣יִם חֲדָשִׁ֔ים וָאָ֖רֶץ חֲדָשָׁ֑ה וְלֹ֤א תִזָּכַ֙רְנָה֙ הָרִ֣אשֹׁנֹ֔ות וְלֹ֥א תַעֲלֶ֖ינָה עַל־לֵֽב׃
🔍 Phrase-by-Phrase Breakdown:
- כִּ֣י הִנְנִ֤י – ki hinnēnî
- Strong’s H3588 (כִּי): “for,” indicating purpose or explanation.
- Strong’s H2009 (הִנֵּה): “behold,” calling attention.
- Meaning: “For behold” – God is making a declaration of significance.
- בוֹרֵא֙ – bōrē’
- Strong’s H1254 (בָּרָא): “to create” (a verb used only of divine activity).
- Meaning: “I create” – God alone brings forth something entirely new.
- שָׁמַ֣יִם – shamayim
- Strong’s H8064 (שָׁמַיִם): “heavens” – the sky, celestial realm.
- חֲדָשִׁ֔ים – chadashim
- Strong’s H2319 (חָדָשׁ): “new” – fresh, unused, unprecedented.
- Phrase meaning: “new heavens”
- וָאָ֖רֶץ – vā’āretz
- Strong’s H776 (אֶרֶץ): “earth” – land, ground, territory.
- חֲדָשָׁ֑ה – chadashah
- Strong’s H2319 again: Feminine form of “new.”
- Phrase meaning: “a new earth”
- וְלֹ֤א תִזָּכַ֙רְנָה֙ – wə·lō tizākarnāh
- Strong’s H2142 (זָכַר): “to remember” – recall or bring to mind.
- Meaning: “shall not be remembered”
- הָרִ֣אשֹׁנֹ֔ות – hā·ri·sho·nōt
- Strong’s H7223 (רִאשׁוֹן): “former” – earlier things, prior events.
- וְלֹ֥א תַעֲלֶ֖ינָה – wə·lō ta‘ălēnāh
- Strong’s H5927 (עָלָה): “to go up, ascend” – figuratively, to come into mind or rise in thought.
- עַל־לֵֽב – ‘al-lev
- Strong’s H3820 (לֵב): “heart” – often used metaphorically for mind, will, inner thoughts.
- Meaning: “nor come into mind” or “into the heart”
✨ Deeper Insight:
- Divine Renewal: This verse is a prophetic declaration of God’s promise to entirely remake creation – the heavens and earth – pointing toward the ultimate fulfillment in the New Heaven and New Earth (cf. Revelation 21:1).
- Forgetfulness of Former Sorrows: The troubles and sins of the old world will be so overshadowed by the glory of the new that they won’t even be remembered or thought about.
- Restoration and Hope: This passage offers profound hope to the suffering and faithful. What lies ahead with God is so glorious that past pain becomes irrelevant.
