What Does 2 Kings 19:14 Mean in the King James?
And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Hezekiah does with the threatening letter what Moses does with his hands: he spreads it open before the LORD.
THE MEANING
A frightening message can arrive in someone else’s words and tighten itself around the mind. Here, the whole written threat is opened in the LORD’s house and spread before him. What presses inward is made visible in God’s presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie undone is that a threatening message must stay folded inside the mind and be carried alone.
THE ROOT
וַיִּפְרְשֵׂהוּ
wayyiprəsēhû
GROWS FROM
פרשׂ
p-r-ś
To spread out or stretch forth.
English makes “spread” sound like a simple handling detail, but this same Hebrew root describes hands stretched toward the LORD. The written threat is extended into open view before him.
ALSO GROWS
ʾeprōś: I will spread or stretch out.
אֶפְרֹשׂ
Moses uses this form when he says he will spread his hands unto the LORD, making the letter’s opening echo an extended gesture.
miphras: Sail, a surface spread out.
מִפְרָשׂ
The sail is a thing extended into the open; here the letter, too, is no longer kept folded away.
חִזְקִיָּהוּ
Ḥizqiyyāhû
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be strong, grow firm, or strengthen.
Hezekiah’s name carries the sense “YHWH strengthens,” from the root for being strong or making firm. That name stands beside the threatening letter, while the verse’s focus falls on laying the whole threat open before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: To be strong, grow firm, or strengthen.
חָזַק
This verb gives the root beneath Hezekiah’s name its sense of strengthening.
ḥāzāq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
This adjective carries the same strength-language found in the king’s name.
הַסְּפָרִים
hassefarim
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-p-r
To count, recount, or relate.
The Hebrew has sefarim, “written documents,” where the KJV gives “the letter.” Its word family also carries the sense of counting and recounting, so the threat arrives as a written account that can be read and spread open.
ALSO GROWS
sēfer: Book, scroll, or written document.
סֵפֶר
This is the singular word from the same family as the written documents Hezekiah receives and opens.
mispar: Number or count.
מִסְפָּר
This branch preserves the root’s counting sense alongside the written record laid before the LORD.
THE PATTERN
What presses on the reader becomes open to God’s presence when it is spread, poured out, or cast before him.
And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’s.I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.THE THREAD
And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’s.Both verses use פרשׂ (pāraś), meaning to spread or stretch out. Moses spreads his hands toward the LORD; Hezekiah spreads the written threat before the LORD, and the same gesture of extension holds open prayer and an exposed message.
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