What Does Isaiah 14:22 Mean?
For I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and the remnant, the son and the offspring, says the LORD.
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
For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.THE KEY
The verse’s “cut off” reaches beyond defeat: Babylon’s name, what remains, and every descendant who could carry its nature forward are severed.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks judgment as the removal of a power’s continuity: its name carries its nature, and even what remains, along with its descendants, is cut away. Babylon cannot secure a future through reputation or lineage when the LORD rises against it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that a destructive power becomes permanent once its name and descendants are secured.
THE ROOT
וְהִכְרַתִּי
vehikhratti
GROWS FROM
כרת
karath
cut, sever
“cut off” in this verse is vehikhratti. The verb reaches beyond the removal of a ruler: the name, what remains, and the descendants are all named as things cut away. The same root appears in the phrase כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, “cut a covenant”), so cutting can describe binding continuity or severing it; here the line is severed.
ALSO GROWS
karat berit: Make a covenant, literally “cut a covenant.”
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same root that severs Babylon’s future can elsewhere describe a bond that carries a future forward.
yikkaret: Be severed or removed.
יִכָּרֵת
This form makes explicit the passive side of the same action: what is cut off no longer continues.
וּשְׁאָר
u-she’ar
GROWS FROM
שאר
sha’ar
remain, be left over
The verse places “remnant”, what remains, under the verb “cut off.” Joined to “son and nephew,” the phrase closes the ordinary paths by which a name and its nature continue.
ALSO GROWS
nish’ar: What survives or is left behind.
נִשְׁאַר
This verb names the possibility of surviving that the verse says will be removed.
she’erit: A remainder, what is left after loss.
שְׁאֵרִית
This noun shares the root of the verse’s “remnant,” reinforcing that even the portion left over is included in the severance.
אָקוּם
aqum
GROWS FROM
קום
qum
rise, stand
“rise up” in this verse is aqum. Judgment begins with the LORD rising against them. This root also forms “establish,” placing the LORD’s stand against a power whose own establishment seems secure.
ALSO GROWS
heqim: Cause to stand, establish, or raise.
הֵקִים
The same root that describes the LORD’s rising can describe what is made to stand; here that standing power is opposed.
maqom: A place or standing location.
מָקוֹם
The word for place grows from the same root of standing, echoing the verse’s contest over what can remain established.
THE PATTERN
When a violent power is judged, the language reaches beyond its present rule to erase its name, descendants, and continuation.
He has neither offspring nor grandchild among his people, and no survivor in the places where he lodged.Let what comes after him be cut off, and in a generation let their name be wiped away.And a strong messenger lifts a stone like a great millstone, and throws it into the sea, saying, With a rush shall Babylon the great city be thrown down, and shall never be found again.THE THREAD
On that day the LORD cut a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.The Hebrew phrase for “made a covenant” is כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, “cut a covenant”), using the same root as Isaiah’s “cut off.” The root holds both the making of a bond that carries a future and the severing of every line through which a name could endure.
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