What Does Isaiah 22:12 Mean in the King James?
And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
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 divine call gives devastation a truthful form in grief, rather than demanding the appearance of composure.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks into the day when loss is no longer abstract: tears, lament, a shaved head, and sackcloth give grief a body. Its summons makes room for grief to be seen and named instead of disguised as composure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that visible grief means you are failing to trust God: here, the call itself takes the form of lament.
THE ROOT
קָרָא
qara
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
to call, summon, or proclaim; the same verb can also mean to read aloud
“called” in this verse is qara. This is a summons, not merely a description of what happens: the verse names lament as the response to a day of rupture. The same root forms מִקְרָא (miqra), a convocation or gathering, so a call can bring people into a shared moment.
ALSO GROWS
qore: one who calls; a reader
קֹרֵא
The active form keeps the caller present in the act: grief here is named by a summons.
miqra: a convocation or reading
מִקְרָא
This branch shows how a call can gather people into a shared, appointed moment.
מִסְפֵּד
misped
GROWS FROM
ספד
s-p-d
to mourn or lament
English mourning can sound like an inward mood, but מִסְפֵּד (misped) is lament made audible and visible. The root also names the mourners themselves, holding grief and its human expression together.
ALSO GROWS
saphad: to mourn or lament
סָפַד
The verb behind the noun presents mourning as an expressed response, not only an inner feeling.
sophedim: mourners
סֹפְדִים
The root names those who give lament its human presence.
THE PATTERN
When devastation is present, scripture names lament as an honest response and leaves room for consolation to follow.
Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.THE THREAD
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.The same root appears in “they shall mourn,” where seeing the pierced one is followed by lament. Isaiah names mourning as the response summoned in a day of devastation; Zechariah shows how fully that root can hold grief.
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