14
So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ḥiz·qî·yā·hū ’eṯ- way·yiq·qaḥ has·sə·p̄ā·rîm mî·yaḏ ham·mal·’ā·ḵîm way·yiq·rā·’êm way·ya·‘al bêṯ Yah·weh way·yip̄·rə·śê·hū ḥiz·qî·yā·hū lip̄·nê Yah·weh
Word by word14 · parsed
√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
√ lâqach — to take (in the widest variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
√ çêpher — properly, writing (the art or a document)ArticleNounmasculine plural
çêpher: writing, a document Plural in the Hebrew, singular in the suffix that follows it. Ellicott compares Latin litterae; K&D explains the shifting suffixes by proximity, not by two different objects. Barnes adds a hard fact from the monuments: Assyrian armies travelled with scribes and their materials, so a dispatch could be drawn up in the field, and since Hezekiah himself read it, it was very probably written in Hebrew.
√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-mNounfeminine singular construct
yâd: a hand, the open one (power, means) The letter comes "from the hand of" the messengers. The same noun H3027 closes the prayer at v. 19, "save us from his hand." Within six verses the unit travels from one hand delivering a threat to another hand that must be escaped, and the prayer is what stands between them.
√ mălʼâk — a messengerArticleNounmasculine plural
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine plural
Qal consecutive imperfect with a plural object suffix: he read them. Cambridge suspects the envoys enforced the written message with words of their own.
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
ʻâlâh: to ascend, to mount up The verb of going up to the sanctuary. Benson and Poole agree he could go only into the outer court, Cambridge that he most likely stood at the porch and prayed toward the Holy of Holies; the ascent is real but bounded, a layman king stopping exactly where the law stops him.
√ bayith — a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etcNounmasculine singular construct
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
√ pâras — to break apart, disperse, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singularthird person masculine singular
pâras: to break apart, spread wide, disperse The theological crux of the verse, and the commentators feel it. Ellicott records that some took offence at the act as heathenish, quoting Reuss's jab that it was done "so that God might read it too," and answers that a man who calls God the maker of heaven and earth is not likely to think Him uninformed. Cambridge and Poole read it as self-directed: the object in sight makes the prayer more fervent. K&D reads it as an embodied wish that the Lord would notice and punish. Pulpit adds that the open letter is left to plead silently.
√ Chizqîyâh — Chizkijah, a king of Judah, also the name of two other IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct
pânîym: the face, as the part that turns "To the face of YHWH." The idiom governs the whole unit: the prayer that follows is not about the letter but about a face that can turn, an ear that can incline (v. 16), and eyes that can open (v. 16).
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular