What Does 2 Kings 20:15 Mean in the King James?
And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.
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
The question asks what they saw, but Hebrew answers with the same root as “showed”: the verse makes Hezekiah’s disclosure part of the sight itself.
THE MEANING
The question places a household under another’s gaze, and the answer leaves no reserve hidden: even what is stored as treasure is now visible. The verse speaks to the moment private abundance becomes public knowledge.
THE ROOT
הִרְאִיתִם
hir'itim
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra'ah
To see or perceive; in the form used here, to cause someone to see, to show.
“shown” in this verse is hir'itim. The visitors’ “saw” (רָאוּ, ra’u) and Hezekiah’s “showed” (הִרְאִיתִם, hir’itim) come from one root: one is receiving sight, the other causing it. English gives two separate actions, while Hebrew reveals that their seeing follows directly from his showing.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: To see, look, or perceive.
רָאָה
This is the visitors’ action in the question: what came into their sight.
hir'ah: To show; to cause someone to see.
הִרְאָה
This is the form behind Hezekiah’s answer, making him the one who opened the contents to their gaze.
mar'eh: Appearance or sight.
מַרְאֶה
This branch names what is visible, the field of appearance the visitors are asked to report.
אֹצְרֹתַי
otsrotai
GROWS FROM
אצר
ʾatsar
To store up or lay away; to gather into reserve.
“Treasures” carries the image of things kept in reserve, not merely valuables. Hezekiah says that even what is gathered and held back has been brought into view.
ALSO GROWS
ʾatsar: To store up or lay away.
אָצַר
The verb makes the treasures a reserve that has been gathered and kept.
otsar: A storehouse or treasury.
אוֹצָר
The noun names the place where stored wealth is held; the verse says its contents have all been shown.
חִזְקִיָּהוּ
Ḥizqiyyāhū
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥazaq
To be strong or firm; to strengthen.
“Hezekiah” in this verse is Ḥizqiyyāhū. The name joins חזק (ḥazaq, be strong or strengthen) with יהו (Yahu, a form of the divine name): “YHWH strengthens.” That name sits beside an answer that leaves no treasure undisclosed.
ALSO GROWS
ḥazaq: To be strong or grow firm.
חָזַק
This is the strength carried in the first part of Hezekiah’s name.
ḥizzēq: To strengthen or make firm.
חִזֵּק
This verbal form gives the name its sense of strengthening by YHWH.
THE PATTERN
What is kept hidden does not remain unknowable; searching or disclosure brings the concealed into view.
He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.THE THREAD
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Both verses turn on ראה (ra’ah, see): here, seeing and showing are forms of the same root; in Samuel, the LORD sees beyond outward appearance to the heart. Together they open a distinction between what is exposed to the gaze and what the gaze actually perceives.
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