What Does Isaiah 38:22 Mean?
Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?
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
Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?THE KEY
The verb for “go up” also names the offering that ascends, so the sign concerns a return to worship, not mere survival.
THE MEANING
You can survive a crisis and still need to know that the way back to worship is open. This verse gives that need direct language: the sign is assurance that you will rise again toward the LORD’s house.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This loosens the belief that survival alone means you are restored; the verse includes a renewed way to worship in the hope of healing.
THE ROOT
אֶעֱלֶה
ʾeʿeleh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To rise, ascend, or go up.
The root of “go up” also names the offering that ascends. Hezekiah’s hoped-for return is more than leaving illness behind; it is an ascent back toward the LORD’s house.
ALSO GROWS
ʿolah: Burnt offering; literally, that which ascends.
עֹלָה
This branch gives the upward movement of “go up” a sacrificial echo, joining return to the LORD’s house with an offering that rises toward God.
ʿaliyyah: Ascent, rising, or an upper room.
עֲלִיָּה
The word keeps the emphasis on upward movement, illuminating the return to the LORD’s house as an ascent.
יְחִזְקִיָּהוּ
Yĕḥizqiyyāhû
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be strong, strengthen, or make firm.
“Hezekiah” in this verse is Yĕḥizqiyyāhû. The name carries חזק (ḥ-z-q, strengthen) alongside YHWH: “YHWH strengthens.” That name sits beside a request for a sign that the ascent to the LORD’s house will be possible.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: To be strong or to strengthen.
חָזַק
This verb makes the strength embedded in Hezekiah’s name active, next to his request for assurance.
ḥāzāq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
This adjective echoes the name’s root while the verse looks toward a return made possible by strength.
THE PATTERN
A sign makes a promise or divine action visible where assurance is needed.
I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be the mark of a covenant between me and the earth.And he said, Surely I will be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.And truly Jesus did many other signs before the eyes of his disciples, which are not written in this book.THE THREAD
And this shall be a sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this word that he has spoken.The same Hebrew word, אוֹת (ʾot, sign), appears in both verses. Here Hezekiah asks for a sign that he will go up to the LORD’s house; verse 7 gives the LORD’s promise a visible witness.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us