What Does 2 Kings 20:13 Mean?
And Hezekiah heard them and responded, and let them see all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his weapons, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his governance, that Hezekiah did not let them see.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.THE KEY
The startling detail is not what Hezekiah owns, but that showing it leaves nothing in his whole domain unseen.
THE MEANING
The verse places the reader inside a moment when attention becomes disclosure: after hearing the visitors, Hezekiah opens every store of value and strength to their sight. The repeated “all” and final “nothing…not” make the exposure total; no reserve is held back. The gaze takes in both what is precious and what protects.
THE ROOT
וַיַּרְאֵם
wayyar’em
GROWS FROM
ראה
To see, look, or perceive; in this verb form, to cause to see, to show.
“let them see” in this verse is wayyar’em. Hebrew casts “showed” as causing the visitors to see: the act of showing and the resulting sight share the root ראה (ra’ah, to see). Repeated around “all” and the final “nothing…not,” the root makes disclosure itself the event, not the inventory alone.
ALSO GROWS
ro’eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
The same root names the perceiver, bringing the visitors’ newly gained sight into the verse’s central action.
mar’eh: Sight, appearance, or vision.
מַרְאֶה
The contents become the sight put before the visitors, keeping the act of showing and what is seen within one root.
THE PATTERN
What is exposed enters the field of sight and can be known.
Probe me, O God, and perceive my heart; test me, and perceive my burning thoughts.For there is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be known.Therefore, judge nothing before its season, until the Lord comes, who will light up the hidden things of darkness, and will make visible the plans of the hearts. And then the praise will come to each one from God.THE THREAD
And he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not let them see.The next verse repeats ראה (ra’ah, “to see”) in Isaiah’s question and Hezekiah’s answer. What was shown becomes what the visitors have seen: the root holds the disclosure and its result together.
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