Hebrew Form Guide

בְּיָד֥וֹ (bə·yā·ḏōw) in Isaiah 53:10: Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular

בְּיָד֥וֹ (bə·yā·ḏōw) in Isaiah 53:10

Source Word

בְּיָד֥וֹbə·yā·ḏōwPreposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular

Isaiah 53:10 token 16 is בְּיָדוֹ, H3027, parsed Prep-b | N-fsc | 3ms and aligned with in His hand.

How The Form Affects Interpretation

The phrase turns the verse toward purposeful accomplishment: the servant who suffers is also the one through whose agency the Lord's good pleasure succeeds.

How To Communicate It

Teach the hand idiom as effective agency within the verse's suffering-to-vindication movement, while allowing the whole song to govern its messianic significance.

What Not To Say

  • Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
  • The suffix most naturally refers to the servant who remains the masculine actor in the surrounding clauses.
  • Grammatical femininity belongs to the Hebrew noun hand and says nothing about the servant's nature.
  • Do not turn prosper in his hand into a promise of automatic health, wealth, or institutional success.

What Does The Label Mean?

Profile

Hebrew-nominal

Part of Speech

Noun

Form Label

Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular

Attached Prefixes

Prep-b

Suffix

Third person masculine singular

Gender

Feminine

Number

Singular

State

Construct

Aspect Note

The bet prefix places the Lord's good pleasure within the agency expressed by hand, and the third-person suffix points back to the masculine servant who sees offspring and prolongs days. Hand is grammatically feminine; that label concerns the noun, not the servant.

Verse Role

The phrase closes the verse by presenting the servant as the agent through whom the Lord's good pleasure advances successfully.

What The Form Does In This Verse

Attached To

The prepositional phrase sits between the Lord's good pleasure and the verb will prosper, with its suffix referring to the servant in the verse.

Governed By

Isaiah 53:10's movement from suffering and guilt offering to offspring, prolonged days, and successful divine purpose.

Role In The Phrase

It expresses the servant's effective agency in the prospering of the Lord's good pleasure.

What It Is Not Doing

It does not make the noun's feminine gender a theological symbol, identify every detail of atonement by morphology, or turn success into a general prosperity promise.

How Much The Form Matters Here

Interpretive Weight

High: The hand phrase marks the servant's effective agency in the Lord's purpose after the verse describes suffering and guilt offering.

Syntax Profile

Bet-prefixed construct noun with servant-referential suffix. identifies the agent through whom the purpose advances. Attached to the clause saying the Lord's good pleasure will prosper. Governed by the servant's suffering-to-vindication sequence. The hand idiom carries agency because of the prosper verb and the servant's continuing subject role.

Reader Question

Why does in his hand mean more than a literal location? The Lord's good pleasure is said to prosper there, so hand presents the servant as the effective agent of that purpose.

Translation Effect

Interpretive: English preserves the Hebrew hand idiom and capitalizes the suffix as a contextual reference to the servant.

Where Caution Is Needed

Capitalization is an English editorial convention, not a feature of the Hebrew suffix. Hand can be literal elsewhere; the abstract subject and prosper verb favor agency here. The suffix antecedent should be established from the clause sequence rather than assumed from theology alone.

Fallacies To Avoid

Grammatical gender proves theology: Feminine marks the noun hand and does not describe the servant's being. prosper guarantees material success: The subject is the Lord's good pleasure in the servant's mission, not every project undertaken by a reader. one phrase proves the whole atonement doctrine: Let the entire servant song and wider canon establish doctrinal conclusions.

How The Interpretation Is Derived

Textual Witness

Isaiah 53:10 token 16 is בְּיָדוֹ, H3027, parsed Prep-b | N-fsc | 3ms and aligned with in His hand.

Lexical Identity

יָד literally names a hand and frequently extends to power, control, means, or agency. Prosperity occurring in a hand supports the agency sense here.

Grammar In Context

The prefix introduces the sphere or agency, the suffix matches the masculine servant, and the surrounding verbs continue the servant's vindicated activity after suffering.

Passage Meaning

The verse holds the servant's suffering and guilt-offering role together with life beyond suffering and the successful accomplishment of the Lord's purpose.

Canonical Fit

Christian reading receives Isaiah 53 within the wider witness to Christ, but this one construct phrase should illuminate agency rather than carry the whole doctrine of the cross by itself.

Communication Use

Follow the masculine subject through he will see and he will prolong before explaining why his hand is the natural antecedent and an idiom for effective agency.

Do Not Derive

Do not infer divine gender, automatic material success, or a complete atonement model from the noun form or preposition alone.