What Does Isaiah 38:6 Mean?
And I will snatch you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will cover this city.
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
And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.THE KEY
Deliverance does not end with escape: the city released from the enemy’s grasp remains under a covering.
THE MEANING
The threat is plain: you and the place you belong can be under an enemy’s grasp. Release breaks that hold, while protection remains over the city; being brought out does not mean being left exposed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that once immediate danger is escaped, protection ends too.
THE ROOT
אַצִּילְךָ
’atsilekha
GROWS FROM
נצל
n-ṣ-l
To snatch away or rescue from danger.
“snatch” in this verse is ’atsilekha. The verb pictures being pulled out of the enemy’s grasp, giving “deliver” the force of an actual release. The person and the city are both taken out from under the threat.
ALSO GROWS
hitsil: Rescued or delivered.
הִצִּיל
This form carries the same idea of being pulled away from danger that shapes the promise here.
hatsalah: Rescue or deliverance.
הַצָּלָה
This noun names the act of rescue as removal from peril, echoing the release of the person and city.
וְגַנּוֹתִי
ve-gannoti
GROWS FROM
גנן
g-n-n
To cover, shield, or defend.
“cover” in this verse is ve-gannoti. The root gives defense the image of a covering that stays over the city. Paired with נצל (natsal, rescue), it shows the threat’s grasp being broken while protection continues.
ALSO GROWS
yagen: He will defend or protect.
יָגֵן
This form appears with the same city in Isaiah 31:5, linking defense to the covering promised here.
magen: Shield.
מָגֵן
The shield image makes the root’s covering sense visible: defense surrounds and protects what is under threat.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance breaks an enemy’s hold and carries protection over the one brought out.
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.For I will shield this city to deliver it, for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.And the Lord will bring me out of every evil work, and will deliver me into his heavenly governance; to whom let there be weight for the ages of the ages. Amen.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 joins גנן (ganan, cover or defend) with נצל (natsal, rescue), the same roots at work here. The repeated pairing shows release and continuing protection as one movement: the city is taken out of danger and held under cover.
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