What Does Isaiah 22:17 Mean in the King James?
Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.
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
Inside “carry thee away” is a physical hurling, followed by a wrapping that closes over the one removed.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as one who can be hurled from your place and covered by the LORD’s force. The verse speaks its warning in bodily terms: removal and enclosure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a powerful position makes you immovable is undone: the one addressed can be forcibly removed and covered.
THE ROOT
מְטַלְטֶלְךָ
mĕṭalṭelḵā
GROWS FROM
טלטל
Toss, hurl, or shake about.
“carry thee away” in this verse is mĕṭalṭelḵā. Hebrew pairs the verb with its own noun, making the person be “tossed with a tossing.” The repeated root gives the removal a rough, physical force.
ALSO GROWS
ṭalṭēlāh: A tossing or hurling.
טַלְטֵלָה
This noun appears in the verse beside the verb, intensifying the image of forceful displacement.
mĕṭalṭēl: Tossing or hurling; the one causing the motion.
מְטַלְטֵל
This verbal form keeps the action active: someone is being thrown, not simply moved.
עָטֹה
ʿāṭōh
GROWS FROM
עטה
Wrap, cover, or clothe by enveloping.
“cover thee” in this verse is ʿāṭōh. The word for covering carries the image of being wrapped around, not merely hidden from view. In the verse, the hurling is followed by enclosure.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōṭēh: Wrapping or clothing; used of covering oneself with light.
עֹטֶה
Psalm 104:2 uses this form for God wrapping light around himself like a garment, showing the enveloping sense of the verb.
wayyaʿaṭ: He wrapped or clothed himself.
וַיַּעַט
Isaiah 59:17 uses this form for being clothed with zeal like a cloak, revealing how the same root makes covering feel like an enclosing garment.
גָּבֶר
gāḇer
GROWS FROM
גבר
Be strong, prevail, or exert power.
“mighty” in this verse is gāḇer. The word belongs to a root that holds strength and prevailing together. That sound of power sits beside the tossing, making the force of the removal part of the verse’s image.
ALSO GROWS
gāḇar: Be strong or prevail.
גָּבַר
The verb names the force implied by “mighty” and makes power an action, not just a status.
gibbôr: A mighty one or warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This branch names a person marked by strength, echoing the force that drives the hurling in the verse.
THE PATTERN
God’s action can unseat or uproot what seems fixed, making apparent strength and rootedness temporary.
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.THE THREAD
He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house.The next verse makes the motion visible: the one wrapped up is tossed like a ball into a distant land. It carries Isaiah 22:17’s hurling and covering forward as one forceful sequence.
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