What Does Isaiah 33:13 Mean?
Hear and respond, you who are far off, to what I have done. You who draw near, perceive my might.
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
Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.THE KEY
The far hear what God has done, while the near are called to know that divine might is power already at work.
THE MEANING
Wherever you find yourself, far off or near, the verse reaches you: what God has done can be heard from a distance, and God’s might can be known close at hand. The line moves from hearing deeds to knowing the power they disclose.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that distance makes you unreachable, or that closeness alone means you know God’s power.
THE ROOT
וּדְעוּ
u-deʿu
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
Know, perceive, recognize.
“perceive” in this verse is u-deʿu. The Hebrew imperative means “know.” The near are called beyond hearing into recognition of the might whose acts can be heard.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, perception.
דַּעַת
It shows that the call reaches toward knowing, not merely repeating a claim about God’s power.
yodea: A person who knows.
יוֹדֵעַ
The same root describes the knower as well as the act of knowing, making recognition a lived relation.
קְרֹבִים
qerovim
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Approach, draw near.
“who draw near” in this verse is qerovim. English presents “near” as a location; the Hebrew belongs to the root of approaching, also found in the word for “drawing near.” Nearness carries the sense of relation and movement, giving the call to know God’s might an immediacy beyond physical distance.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: To approach, come near.
קָרַב
The root makes nearness an active relation rather than a fixed place.
qorbān: A drawing near; an offering.
קָרְבָּן
This branch preserves the root’s sense of approach within a word the English often treats only as an object.
גְּבֻרָתִי
gevurati
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
Be strong, prevail.
The word for might grows from a root of strength and prevailing, suggesting effective power rather than an attribute detached from action. The verse pairs this might with what God has done, presenting power through its deeds.
ALSO GROWS
gāvar: To be strong, prevail.
גָּבַר
It shows the active force contained in the word translated “might.”
gibbôr: A mighty one, warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
The same root describes one who embodies or exercises prevailing strength.
THE PATTERN
God’s enacted work makes divine power recognizable to people near and far.
Come and see the works of God, awe-filled in his doing upon the children of humankind.The LORD has bared his set-apart arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the edges of the earth shall see the deliverance of our God.For the unseen things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, grasped through the things made, his ageless power and divinity, so that they stand without a word in their defense.THE THREAD
But for me, drawing near to God is good; I have set my shelter in the Lord LORD, to recount all your works.Isaiah’s קְרֹבִים (qerovim, near) and the Psalm’s קִרְבַת (qirvat, drawing near) come from קרב (q-r-b, approach). The Psalm frames nearness as a relation that opens into declaring God’s works, echoing Isaiah’s movement from heard deeds to known might.
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