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Isaiah 39:4

in Isaiah 39

“What have they seen in your palace?” Isaiah asked. “They have seen everything in my palace,” answered Hezekiah. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then said he, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.

KJV

Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

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This verse in Isaiah 39

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
What have they seen? - It is probable that the fact that Hezekiah had showed them the treasures of his kingdom was known in Jerusalem. Such a fact would be likely to attract attention, and to produce inquiry among the people into the cause. All that is in mine house - Here was the confessions of a frank, an honest, and a pious man. There was no concealment; no disguise. Hezekiah knew that he was dealing with a man of God - a man too to whom he had been under great obligations.

This site's exposition

Where did those men come from

on Isaiah 39:3-4

Isaiah arrives after the fact and questions the king, Where did those men come from? Hezekiah answers plainly, from Babylon, and then, They have seen everything in my palace. His answers keep returning to the whole, There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.

This site's exposition

What have they seen in your palace

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear a frank confession in the answer of Hezekiah, a king submitting his conduct to a prophet sent by God. King Asa had jailed the seer Hanani for a rebuke at Second Chronicles 16:7-10. Hezekiah hides nothing in his palace.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 4) And he said: What did they see in your house? And Hezekiah said: They saw everything that is in my house; there was nothing, neither word nor thing, that I did not show them in my treasures. And Isaiah said again, 'What did they see in your house?' And he answered truthfully that they had seen everything in his house, and that he had not withheld anything from them in his treasuries.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

Third, he sets out the reprimand of his vainglory: then Isaiah the prophet came. And first, he sets out the inquiry and the manifestation of his fault: there was not any thing which I have not shown them in my treasures: counsel in the heart …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Then said he, what have they seen in thine house?....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

All--a frank confession of his whole fault; the king submits his conduct to the scrutiny of a subject, because that subject was accredited by God. Contrast Asa (2Ch 16:7-10).

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

“They have come to me from a distant country” This is one of three people whom the Holy One, blessed be He, tested and found to be a chamber pot: Cain, Hezekiah, and Balaam. Hezekiah should have replied, “You are a prophet of the Omnipresent.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Isaiah 39:3:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • מָ֥הwhat?

    mahH4100 →752 times

  • רָא֖וּdid they see

    rauH7200 →1300 times

  • בְּבֵיתֶ֑ךָin house your

    beveitekhaH1004 →2046 times

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • חִזְקִיָּ֗הוּHezekiah

    chizkiyahuH2396 →127 times

  • אֵ֣ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בְּבֵיתִי֙[is] in house my

    beveitiH1004 →2046 times

  • רָא֔וּthey saw

    rauH7200 →1300 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • הָיָ֥הit was

    hayahH1961 →3559 times

  • דָבָ֛רanything

    davarH1697 →1440 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • לֹֽא־not

    lo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • הִרְאִיתִ֖יםI showed them

    hiritimH7200 →1300 times

  • בְּאוֹצְרֹתָֽי׃in storehouses my

    beotzrotaiH214 →79 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

5 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 John 1:9

    If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 28:13

      He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 32:5

      Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

    • Jeremiah 33:8

      And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me.

    • Psalms 51:2–5

      Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

    • 1 John 1:7

      But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

  • Through

    Proverbs 28:13

    He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

    it leads to

    • 1 John 1:8–10

      If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 32:3–5

      When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.

    • Job 31:33

      if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Isaiah: the study guide →Read Isaiah 39 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.

Read on in Isaiah 39 →