What Does Isaiah 36:22 Mean?
Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna, the writer, and Joah, son of Asaph, the one who calls to mind, came to Hezekiah with their garments torn, and told him the words of the chief cupbearer.
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
Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.THE KEY
The report arrives already written on torn garments, then reaches Hezekiah, whose name means “Yah strengthens”, so visible rupture stands beside a name of strengthening.
THE MEANING
A message can be visible before it is repeated: the messengers arrive with their garments torn, carrying its impact into the room. The words reach Hezekiah, whose name means “Yah strengthens,” while the verse still leaves the torn cloth in view.
THE ROOT
קְרוּעֵי
qĕrûʿê
GROWS FROM
קרע
to tear, split, or rend
The Hebrew word describes the messengers as wearing garments torn open. The same root can describe rending the heavens; here the torn cloth makes the rupture carried by the report visible before its words are repeated.
ALSO GROWS
qāraʿ: to tear or rend
קָרַע
This verb names the act that has left the messengers’ clothing split open.
qĕriʿāh: a tearing or rending
קְרִיעָה
The related noun gives a name to the visible act of tearing that marks the report’s impact.
דִּבְרֵי
divrê
GROWS FROM
דבר
speech, word, or matter
“the words of” in this verse is divrê. Dāḇār can mean a word and also a matter or thing. The report is not just sound carried to Hezekiah; it is a matter whose impact is already visible in the messengers’ torn garments.
ALSO GROWS
dāḇār: word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
The words of Rabshakeh are also the matter being brought before Hezekiah.
dibbēr: to speak or declare
דִּבֵּר
This verbal form names the act of speaking whose consequences the torn clothing displays.
חִזְקִיָּהוּ
Ḥizqiyyāhû
GROWS FROM
חזק
to be strong or to strengthen
“Hezekiah” in this verse is Ḥizqiyyāhû. The name is commonly understood as “Yah strengthens.” It places a name of strengthening beside garments that remain visibly torn; the verse holds both in view without claiming the rupture has already passed.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: to be strong or become firm
חָזַק
This form carries the strength element within Hezekiah’s name.
ḥizzēq: to strengthen or make firm
חִזֵּק
This form names strengthening as an action, echoing the meaning carried by the name.
THE PATTERN
Torn clothing makes distress or protest visible when words or events expose a rupture.
And Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.But when the sent ones, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their garments and leapt into the crowd, crying out,THE THREAD
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.The same root, קרע (qaraʿ, “tear”), appears when Hezekiah hears the report and rends his own clothes. The messengers’ torn garments carry the rupture to him; then he bears that same mark himself.
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