What Does 2 Kings 22:19 Mean in the King James?
Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith 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
The same Hebrew root for “hear” names both acts here: the warning is received, and the grieving reply is received.
THE MEANING
The warning reaches a tender heart as more than information; humility and grief give its impact a visible form. The LORD’s reply says that this response is heard, so the exchange runs in both directions.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that once judgment is spoken, any response goes unheard: even as desolation is named, the LORD says, “I also have heard thee.”
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shamaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
to hear, listen, or heed
The same שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear or listen) root appears first when the warning reaches the hearer, then when the LORD says, “I have heard thee.” Its range includes heeding, so the humility and tears show hearing answered in a visible way.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This form carries hearing into response, as the warning is followed by humility and grief.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings
שְׁמוּעָה
The warning is a message received, not merely sound passing by.
shomeaʿ: One who hears or listens
שֹׁמֵעַ
The root holds both sides of the verse: the one who hears the warning and the LORD who hears the reply.
רַךְ
rakh
GROWS FROM
רכך
r-k-k
to be soft or tender
“tender” in this verse is rakh. The Hebrew word carries the sense of softness as well as tenderness. Here that softness describes a heart the warning can reach; the following humility and grief show its responsiveness.
ALSO GROWS
rakh: Soft, tender
רַךְ
This is the adjective used for the heart in the verse.
rakkah: Soft, tender, delicate
רַכָּה
The same word family can describe delicacy, showing that “tender” carries a wider sense of softness.
rakh-levav: Soft-hearted, fainthearted
רַךְ־לֵבָב
Deuteronomy 20:8 uses the same soft-heart wording for the fainthearted; here the response to the warning gives tenderness the sense of receptivity.
כָּנַע
kanaʿ
GROWS FROM
כנע
k-n-ʿ
to be humbled or subdued
“humbled thyself” in this verse is kanaʿ. The Hebrew verb focuses on being brought low or subdued before the LORD. Set between hearing and tears, humility is the warning’s impact made visible.
ALSO GROWS
nikhnaʿ: Be humbled, be subdued
נִכְנַע
This form shows the root’s sense of being brought low, as in the verse’s response to the warning.
hikhniʿa: Subdue, bring low
הִכְנִיעַ
This related form makes the lowering in the root explicit and clarifies the force of the verse’s humility.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s hearing meets human attention and distress with a real answer.
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:THE THREAD
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.The verse uses the same Hebrew root שמע (shamaʿ, hear or listen) for God’s hearing. Here the LORD hears a response of weeping; in Exodus, the heard cry is groaning, showing that the root holds distress as something received.
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