Pic credit
This verse came to me today as I pondered an issue I was concerned about.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee. Isaiah 26:3
The three phrases to pay attention to in this verse are “perfect peace,” “stayed,” and “trusts.”
We all know the term for “peace” in Hebrew is “shalom:” It is the customary Israeli greeting. I figured I would encounter that word in translation, but I didn’t expect to see it twice.
One “shalom” is a polite greeting and can mean “hello,” “goodbye,” or “peace.”
But saying shalom twice is like praying for health, prosperity, wholeness, and perfect peace.
Here is the translation from Hebrew into English:
שָׁלֹם שָׁלוֹם
shâlôm shâlôm shaw-lome', shaw-lome'
From H7999; safe, that is, (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, that is, health, prosperity, peace: - X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X greet, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace (-able, -ably), prosper (-ity, -ous), rest, safe (-ly), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly. Total KJV occurrences: 236 Strongs
I wondered if there was a better translation of the word “stayed,” so I looked up that word in Hebrew:
סָמַךְ
sâmak saw-mak'
A primitive root; to prop (literally or figuratively); reflexively to lean upon or take hold of (in a favorable or unfavorable sense): - bear up, establish, (up-) hold, lay, lean, lie hard, put, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay (self), sustain. Total KJV occurrences: 48 Strongs
“Samak” implies embedding oneself In Him—to lean on Him, to take hold of Him, to be established and rooted In Him, to rest and stand fast In Him because He will sustain us. This word has a sense of permanence in this context, and it conveys strength and comfort.
The third phrase, “trusteth,” seems straightforward. But what does it imply in this context? It’s not just a matter of believing God will keep our confidence or that He won’t let us down. It is much deeper than that!
Here is the Hebrew translation:
בָּטַח
bâṭach baw-takh'
A primitive root; properly to hie for refuge (but not so precipitately as H2620); figuratively to trust, be confident or sure: - be bold (confident, secure, sure), careless (one, woman), put confidence, (make to) hope, (put, make to) trust. Total KJV occurrences: 120 Strongs
To “hie” is to go quickly. So, to “batach” is to go quickly for refuge In Him. To trust, be confident or sure of Him. To be bold in our trust. To be convinced, secure, and certain of Him, and without a care, because we put our hope In Him.
As I meditate on this, I see myself—His little daughter—running to Him the moment something frightens me because I know He will protect me. When I’m lonely, I can grab hold of His hand, and He sustains me. When I grieve, I can bury my face in His chest and weep. The intimacy of “batach” is almost beyond my ability to describe. Still, I believe it is what we find in a personal relationship with Him—as a child to a loving parent, as a confidant, as a balm or salve, as oil poured on troubled waters, as anointing a beloved for the death of self and the beginning of true life In Him.
Now that we understand more about the Hebrew phrases and how we should relate to these words, we could say Isaiah 26:3 this way:
Above all others, our Heavenly Abba desires for us to have “shalom shalom,” –health, prosperity, wholeness, and perfect peace, and for us to “samak”—lean on, take hold of, bear up, establish, lay, lean, lie hard, put, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay, and sustain because we “batach”—intimately trust, are confident, secure, and sure, and without a care because we put our hope In Him.
May you experience this verse in a new and living way as you meditate on what it means.
Shalom shalom.
Pastora Cate Covert