What Does Isaiah 28:2 Mean in the King James?
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
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 storm’s waters do more than surround what stands high: their Hebrew root pictures a force that sweeps it down and lays it on the ground.
THE MEANING
The Lord’s force arrives as hail, a destructive storm, and mighty waters; it brings what stands high down to earth. The image is severe and immediate: visible strength does not place anything beyond the reach of being overturned.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a position is secure simply because it appears strong or elevated dissolves here: what stands high can still be brought to the ground.
THE ROOT
שֹׁטְפִים
shotefim
GROWS FROM
שטף
To sweep or flow over; to wash away.
The Hebrew word translated “overflowing” comes from a root that also names the act of sweeping something away. The water’s movement and its effect are held together: the surge itself carries what it overtakes off its footing.
ALSO GROWS
shataf: To flow over, sweep away, or wash.
שָׁטַף
The verb makes clear that the waters in this verse do not merely surround the land; their force carries things along.
shetef: A flood or torrent.
שֶׁטֶף
The related noun names the overwhelming force itself, echoing the verse’s image of mighty waters sweeping across the ground.
הִנִּיחַ
hinniakh
GROWS FROM
נוח
To rest, settle, or cause to rest; to lay something down.
Under “cast down” sits a verb from a root of settling or laying down. With the hand in the image, the storm’s destructive force lands upon the earth and puts what was elevated down.
ALSO GROWS
nuach: To rest or settle.
נוּחַ
The root’s basic sense gives “cast down” an added contour: the force brings something to rest on the earth.
menuchah: Rest or a resting place.
מְנוּחָה
This related form carries the same idea of settling, sharpening the verse’s picture of what is brought down to earth.
THE PATTERN
Surging force strips away what seemed rooted or secure.
The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.THE THREAD
The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.Job uses the same root, שטף, for the waters that wash away what grows from the earth. In Isaiah, the overflowing waters likewise carry the action of sweeping away within their name, so the storm is not only a spectacle but a force that removes what it overtakes.
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