Isaiah 37:14

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s temple and spread it out before the LORD.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיִּקַּ֨ח חִזְקִיָּ֧הוּ אֶת־הַסְּפָרִ֛ים מִיַּ֥ד הַמַּלְאָכִ֖ים וַיִּקְרָאֵ֑הוּ וַיַּ֙עַל֙ בֵּ֣ית יְהוָ֔ה וַיִּפְרְשֵׂ֥הוּ חִזְקִיָּ֖הוּ לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה׃

Transliteration

And-wayyiqqaḥ Ḥizqiyāhû ʾet-the-sepārîm from-hand-of miyyad the-malʾākîm and-wayyiqrāʾēhû and-wayyaʿal bêt YHWH and-wayyipreśēhû Ḥizqiyāhû before lipnê YHWH.

Grammar Details

• *wayyiqqaḥ*: waw-consecutive + qal imperfect 3ms - and he took
• *Ḥizqiyāhû*: proper noun - Hezekiah
• *ʾet*: direct object marker
• *sepārîm*: noun, masculine plural - letters/documents
• *miyyad*: preposition מן + noun, feminine singular construct - from hand of
• *malʾākîm*: noun, masculine plural - messengers/angels
• *wayyiqrāʾēhû*: waw-consecutive + qal imperfect 3ms + 3ms suffix - and he read it
• *wayyaʿal*: waw-consecutive + qal imperfect 3ms - and he went up
• *bêt*: noun, masculine singular construct - house of
• *YHWH*: divine name - Yahweh/LORD
• *wayyipreśēhû*: waw-consecutive + qal imperfect 3ms + 3ms suffix - and he spread it out
• *lipnê*: preposition ל + noun, plural construct - before/in front of

Word Meanings

• *sepārîm*: letters/documents/scrolls
• *malʾākîm*: messengers/envoys/angels
• *wayyiqrāʾēhû*: and he read it/and he called out
• *wayyipreśēhû*: and he spread it out/and he unfolded it

Referenced Verses

• 1 Kgs 8:28-30 : 28 But respond favorably to your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O LORD my God. Answer the desperate prayer your servant is presenting to you today. 29 Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant’s prayer for this place. 30 Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably.
• 1 Kgs 8:38 : 38 When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their pain and spread out their hands toward this temple,
• 1 Kgs 9:3 : 3 The LORD said to him,“I have answered your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there.
• 2 Kgs 19:14 : 14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the LORD’s temple and spread it out before the LORD.
• 2 Chr 6:20-42 : 20 Night and day may you watch over this temple, the place where you promised you would live. May you answer your servant’s prayer for this place. 21 Respond to the requests of your servant and your people Israel for this place. Hear from your heavenly dwelling place and respond favorably and forgive. 22 “When someone is accused of sinning against his neighbor and the latter pronounces a curse on the alleged offender before your altar in this temple, 23 listen from heaven and make a just decision about your servants’ claims. Condemn the guilty party, declare the other innocent, and give both of them what they deserve. 24 “If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they sinned against you, then if they come back to you, renew their allegiance to you, and pray for your help before you in this temple, 25 then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. 26 “The time will come when the skies are shut up tightly and no rain falls because your people sinned against you. When they direct their prayers toward this place, renew their allegiance to you, and turn away from their sin because you punish them, 27 then listen from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Certainly you will then teach them the right way to live and send rain on your land that you have given your people to possess. 28 “The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight, and disease, or a locust invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs. 29 When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, as they acknowledge their intense pain and spread out their hands toward this temple, 30 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of their motives.(Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) 31 Then they will honor you by obeying you throughout their lifetimes as they live on the land you gave to our ancestors. 32 “Foreigners, who do not belong to your people Israel, will come from a distant land because of your great reputation and your ability to accomplish mighty deeds; they will come and direct their prayers toward this temple. 33 Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you. 34 “When you direct your people to march out and fight their enemies, and they direct their prayers to you toward this chosen city and this temple I built for your honor, 35 then listen from heaven to their prayers for help and vindicate them. 36 “The time will come when your people will sin against you(for there is no one who is sinless!) and you will be angry at them and deliver them over to their enemies, who will take them as prisoners to their land, whether far away or close by. 37 When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting,‘We have sinned and gone astray, we have done evil!’ 38 When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner and direct their prayers toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, 39 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help, vindicate them, and forgive your sinful people. 40 “Now, my God, may you be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place. 41 Now ascend, O LORD God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength! May your priests, O LORD God, experience your deliverance! May your loyal followers rejoice in the prosperity you give! 42 O LORD God, do not reject your chosen ones! Remember the faithful promises you made to your servant David!”
• Ps 27:5 : 5 He will surely give me shelter in the day of danger; he will hide me in his home; he will place me on an inaccessible rocky summit.
• Ps 62:1-3 : 1 For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David. For God alone I patiently wait; he is the one who delivers me. 2 He alone is my protector and deliverer. He is my refuge; I will not be upended. 3 How long will you threaten a man? All of you are murderers, as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence.
• Ps 74:10 : 10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults? Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
• Ps 76:1-3 : 1 For the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of Asaph, a song. God has revealed himself in Judah; in Israel his reputation is great. 2 He lives in Salem; he dwells in Zion. 3 There he shattered the arrows, the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war.(Selah)
• Ps 123:1-4 : 1 A song of ascents. I look up toward you, the one enthroned in heaven. 2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes will look to the LORD, our God, until he shows us favor. 3 Show us favor, O LORD, show us favor! For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some. 4 We have had our fill of the taunts of the self-assured, of the contempt of the proud.
• Ps 143:6 : 6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; my soul thirsts for you in a parched land.(Selah)
• Isa 37:1 : 1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the LORD’s temple.
• Joel 2:17-20 : 17 Let the priests, those who serve the LORD, weep from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. Let them say,“Have pity, O LORD, on your people; please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked, to become a proverb among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples,“Where is their God?” 18 The LORD’s Response Then the LORD became zealous for his land; he had compassion on his people. 19 The LORD responded to his people,“Look! I am about to restore your grain as well as fresh wine and olive oil. You will be fully satisfied. I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations. 20 I will remove the one from the north far from you. I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place. Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” Indeed, the LORD has accomplished great things.