What Does Isaiah 37:15 Mean?

And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,

Isaiah 37:15 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,

THE KEY

The verse makes prayer a movement into speech: what is carried inward is addressed to the LORD.

THE MEANING

You see someone bring words directly before the LORD. Prayer here takes form in speech, and the verse leaves space for what is said next.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The idea that prayer is only an inward feeling is unsettled by the words “saying” that follow.

THE ROOT

וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל

vayitpallel

GROWS FROM

פלל

palal

To intervene or intercede; in the reflexive stem, to pray.

The Hebrew verb gives prayer the shape of an appeal made within a matter, directed toward God. English “prayed” can sound like a private feeling; the Hebrew depicts Hezekiah actively bringing his appeal before the LORD.

ALSO GROWS

tefillah: Prayer

תְּפִלָּה

The noun for prayer grows from the same root, keeping prayer connected to making an appeal.

mitpallel: One who prays or intercedes

מִתְפַּלֵּל

This form shows the same root as an ongoing act of bringing an appeal before God.

חִזְקִיָּהוּ

Ḥizqiyyāhû

GROWS FROM

חזק

chazaq

To be strong or to strengthen.

Hezekiah’s name means “YHWH strengthens.” The person praying bears a name that holds strength together with the one to whom he speaks.

ALSO GROWS

chazaq: Strong

חָזָק

The adjective carries the root’s sense of strength in the name Hezekiah.

chizzeq: Strengthen or reinforce

חִזֵּק

This verb makes the name’s strength active: strength can be given or renewed.

THE PATTERN

A matter becomes prayer when it is spoken toward God.

And she was bitter in her living soul, and she prayed to the LORD, and wept hard.

1 Samuel 1:10 · SDVHer distress becomes prayer through speech addressed to the LORD.

Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. I cry out to the LORD with my voice; with my voice I bend low to the LORD.

Psalm 142:1 · SDVThe repeated phrase “with my voice” makes prayer an audible appeal.

Do not be pulled apart over anything, but in everything, through prayer and need, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:6 · SDVRequests are brought into the open and made known to God through prayer.

THE THREAD

Now therefore return the man his wife, for he is a prophet. He shall pray for you, and you shall live. And if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that is yours.

Genesis 20:7 · SDV

The Hebrew word translated “pray” in both verses grows from ⁨פלל⁩ (palal), the root of interceding or making an appeal. Hezekiah brings his own words before the LORD; in Genesis, one person’s prayer is made on behalf of another, showing the same root at work in intercession.

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