What Does Isaiah 37:35 Mean?

For I will cover this city to deliver it for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.

Isaiah 37:35 · 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

For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.

THE KEY

The city is preserved for God’s own purpose and for the sake of David, the beloved, and ⁨יָשַׁע⁩ (yasha, deliver) casts rescue as a way out of constriction into spaciousness.

THE MEANING

This verse holds the threatened city within God’s own purpose: its preservation rests on his sake and on the bond named through David, the beloved servant. Rescue opens a way through constriction; the city’s keeping does not arise from its own strength.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A threatened place is not kept only by whatever power it can muster; this verse locates its defense in God’s purpose and in the bond he names through David.

THE ROOT

לְהוֹשִׁיעָהּ

lehoshi’ah

GROWS FROM

ישע

Deliver; bring into spaciousness.

“deliver” in this verse is lehoshi’ah. The phrase “to save it” carries a root associated with being brought out of constriction into room. The city is not only kept from collapse; it is delivered through the threat so it can continue.

ALSO GROWS

yeshuah: Deliverance

יְשׁוּעָה

The noun names the same movement out of constraint that the city receives.

moshia: Deliverer

מוֹשִׁיעַ

The deliverer is named by the act of bringing someone out into safety.

דָּוִד

Dāwīd

GROWS FROM

דוד

Beloved; beloved one.

David’s name carries the sense of belovedness. “My servant David” holds service and beloved relation together as the stated ground, alongside God’s own sake, for the city’s keeping.

ALSO GROWS

dod: Beloved; close kinsman

דּוֹד

The shared root lets David’s name carry a relational sense, not merely identify a person.

dodi: My beloved

דּוֹדִי

This form makes the affection within the root explicit, illuminating the name’s sense of belovedness.

THE PATTERN

Protection and deliverance arise from God’s own commitment and identity.

Yet he delivered them for the sake of his nature, to make his strength known.

Psalm 106:8 · SDVRescue is grounded in God’s name and purpose, as this city’s preservation is grounded in God’s own sake.

As hovering birds, so the LORD of hosts will cover Jerusalem. Covering, he will snatch it free, and leaping over it, he will bring it out of harm.

Isaiah 31:5 · SDVThe verse joins protection and deliverance in the same movement of keeping the threatened city.

For when God promised to Abraham, since he had none greater to swear by, he swore by himself,

Hebrews 6:13 · SDVGod anchors the promise in himself, echoing the grounding of the city’s preservation in God’s own sake.

THE THREAD

As hovering birds, so the LORD of hosts will cover Jerusalem. Covering, he will snatch it free, and leaping over it, he will bring it out of harm.

Isaiah 31:5 · SDV

This verse repeats ⁨גנן⁩ (ganan, protect or cover) and ⁨ישע⁩ (yasha, deliver). Its doubled phrasing makes clear that defense and being brought out belong to one joined movement.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us