What Does 2 Kings 6:30 Mean?
And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes, and he passed along the wall, and the people looked, and look, sackcloth was within upon his flesh.
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 it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.THE KEY
The king’s clothes tear after he hears the woman, but sackcloth is already against his skin: the rupture reveals what was concealed, not what has just begun.
THE MEANING
The woman’s words reach the king, and he tears his garments as he passes along the wall. Beneath his royal clothing, sackcloth already touches his flesh: distress is present before it becomes visible to the people. The watching crowd sees the tear expose what his outer clothing concealed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A powerful or composed appearance means the person beneath it is untouched by distress.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקְרַע
wayyiqraʿ
GROWS FROM
קרע
q-r-ʿ
To tear, rend, split open.
“tore” in this verse is wayyiqraʿ. The Hebrew verb names a covering being opened by tearing: the king’s garments split in response to what he hears. But the sackcloth already lies against his flesh, so the tear exposes distress that was present beneath his public appearance.
ALSO GROWS
qeriʿah: Tearing, rending.
קְרִיעָה
The noun names the act itself; here the torn garment makes an inward rupture visible to the people watching.
niqraʿ: Was torn, became split.
נִקְרַע
This form describes a surface giving way, echoing how the king’s clothing opens to reveal what lies beneath.
THE PATTERN
A tear turns an unseen rupture or separation into something visible.
And Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.Then Job rose up, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell to the ground, and bowed down.And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from above to below.THE THREAD
And Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.Both verses use the Hebrew root קרע (q-r-ʿ, “tear, rend”) for tearing garments, and both place sackcloth against the body. Genesis shows Jacob putting it on after he tears his clothes; in 2 Kings, the king’s sackcloth is already beneath his clothing, so the tear reveals what he has been carrying.
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