What Does Isaiah 2:21 Mean?
To enter the clefts of the crags, and the tops of the cliffs, from the dread of the LORD and from the splendor of his swelling, when he rises to make the earth tremble.
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
To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for the rocks people flee into is also used for the LORD as Rock, turning refuge into a question of whether you hide from the Presence or find refuge in it.
THE MEANING
People flee into clefts of rock as the LORD rises, and the earth is both shaken and terrified. Majesty here is a presence felt through the ground’s upheaval, not an ornament or abstraction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a solid refuge stands outside the encounter: the people seek the rock because they fear what is rising.
THE ROOT
הַצֻּרִים
ha-tsurim
GROWS FROM
צור
Rock or cliff: a mass of stone.
“crags” in this verse is ha-tsurim. The same word for rock appears in Psalm 18:2, where the LORD is called the speaker’s rock. Here people hide inside the rocks from the LORD’s rising; elsewhere the LORD himself is named as refuge. The shared word makes the difference between fleeing the Presence and finding refuge in it visible.
ALSO GROWS
tsur: Rock or cliff.
צוּר
This is the singular form behind the rocks in Isaiah and the word used for the LORD as “my rock” in Psalm 18:2.
tsuri: My rock.
צוּרִי
This possessive form in Psalm 18:2 names the LORD as refuge, giving the physical rocks in Isaiah a striking echo.
נִקְרֹת
niqrot
GROWS FROM
נקר
To pierce or bore into.
“clefts” in this verse is niqrot. The hiding place is a hollow cut into the rock, a space made by piercing into solid stone. The verse pictures flight into the earth’s opened places as the LORD rises.
ALSO GROWS
naqar: To pierce or bore.
נָקַר
The action of boring into something gives the clefts their sense of hollows within the rock.
niqrah: A cleft or hollow.
נִקְרָה
This form names the kind of opening the people enter for shelter.
לַעֲרֹץ
la'arots
GROWS FROM
ערץ
To terrify, cause dread, or make someone tremble.
“make the earth tremble” in this verse is la'arots. The verb carries terror as well as shaking, so the earth is not only moving but made to dread the rising presence. The Hebrew sound of la’arots, “to terrify,” echoes ha’aretz, “the earth”: they share the sounds r-ts, though they have distinct roots.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārats: To be terrified or to cause terror.
עָרַץ
The verb’s range holds both trembling and dread within the verse’s image of the earth.
ʿārîts: A fierce or ruthless person.
עָרִיץ
This related form names one who inspires terror, extending the root’s sense from the feeling to its cause.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD appears in majesty, the ground and the shelters people trust become part of the terror rather than standing outside it.
Enter into the rock, and bury yourself in the dust, from the dread of the LORD and from the splendor of his majesty.The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt, and the earth heaves up before his face, the world and all who settle in it.And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of the one seated upon the throne, and from the burning anger of the Lamb.THE THREAD
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I shelter; my shield, and the horn of my deliverance, and my high place.The word translated “rocks” here and “rock” in this psalm is צּוּר (tsur). In Isaiah, people flee into the tsur; in the psalm, the LORD is the tsur who shelters the speaker. The shared root makes the difference between fleeing the LORD’s presence and finding refuge in it visible.
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