What Does Isaiah 66:2 Mean?
For all these things my hand has made, and all of them have come to be, says the LORD. But toward this one I will gaze, toward the one who is bowed low and struck in breath, who trembles at my word.
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
For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.THE KEY
The hands that made everything turn toward the person whose breath is struck and who trembles at God’s utterance.
THE MEANING
Everything that exists is already made by God’s hand. God’s gaze rests on the person who is poor, whose breath is wounded, and who trembles at God’s word. The verse meets you in vulnerability, where that utterance registers as something real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God’s regard belongs only to people who are spiritually strong or impressive.
THE ROOT
נְכֵה
nekeh
GROWS FROM
נכה
nakah
To strike or smite; to deal a blow.
“struck in breath” in this verse is nekeh. The word translated “contrite” carries the sense of being struck or wounded. The person in view is not merely modest: the verse names someone whose inner life is hurt, alongside someone who trembles at God’s word.
ALSO GROWS
nakah: To strike or smite.
נָכָה
This verb makes the force behind “contrite” visible: the person is described as struck.
makkah: A blow, wound, or plague.
מַכָּה
This noun shares the language of a blow and gives “contrite” a sharper edge than simple humility.
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
רוח
ruach
To blow or breathe; wind, breath, and spirit.
“struck in breath” in this verse is ruach. Ruach holds breath, wind, and spirit in one Hebrew word. Here it is joined to “struck,” so the phrase can name both a wounded inner life and a breath that feels constrained.
ALSO GROWS
ruach: Wind, breath, or spirit.
רוּחַ
These are not separate Hebrew words in the verse’s phrase; ruach holds these senses together.
ravach: To have room, breathe freely, or be relieved.
רָוַח
It shares the consonants ר־ו־ח and brings the idea of relief or room to breathe alongside ruach.
revachah: Relief or respite.
רְוָחָה
This related form carries the sense of breathing room, an echo beside the verse’s image of wounded breath.
דְּבָרִי
devari
GROWS FROM
דבר
davar
To speak; a word, matter, or thing.
Davar can mean both “word” and “matter” or “thing,” while the related verb means “to speak.” God’s word is presented as an utterance with substance, something the person trembles at rather than an abstract label.
ALSO GROWS
davar: A word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
This noun is the root form behind “my word” and carries the added sense of a matter or thing.
dibber: He spoke; to speak.
דִּבֵּר
The verb connects the word in the verse to the act of speaking.
THE PATTERN
God’s regard draws near to people made low and receptive.
The LORD is near to those whose heart is broken, and delivers those crushed in breath.Though the LORD is lifted high, he sees the low ones, and the lofty he perceives from afar.Flourishing are the emptied in breath, for theirs is the governance of the heavens.THE THREAD
The LORD is near to those whose heart is broken, and delivers those crushed in breath.The Hebrew word רוּחַ (ruach) appears in both verses: Isaiah speaks of a struck ruach, and the Psalm of a crushed one. Isaiah says God looks toward this person; the Psalm says the LORD is near.
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