myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 22:20–25

Eliakim and the key of the house of David

"And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." Eliakim replaces Shebna as steward over the palace. The Hebrew witnesses agree (1QIsa-a, 4QIsa-a); the library's Greek adds "I will give him the glory of David." Revelation 3:7 applies the key to the risen Christ; the passage ends with the peg giving way (v. 25).

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Uncertain connection
Hebrew
  1. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. 4QIsa-a (4Q55), Qumran Cave 41st century BC (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  4. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation
  1. Revelation 3:7 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)1st century AD; edition 2010sUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

Every witness, in order

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 22:20–25. Eliakim, the robe, "the key of the house of David" and the peg as in the Masoretic Text; v. 24 "small" without the article. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. 1st century BC (reported)

    4QIsa-a (4Q55), Qumran Cave 4

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 22:20–25. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. What survives agrees with the Masoretic Text.

  4. 1st century AD; edition 2010s

    Revelation 3:7 (Greek New Testament; library: Statistical Restoration text)

    ✓ Contains this passageUncertain relationship to the verse (which wording it followed is the question)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    ¶Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Φιλαδελφείᾳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον: ‘Τάδε λέγει ὁ Ἅγιος, ὁ Ἀληθινός, ὁ ἔχων τὴν κλεῖν Δαυίδ, ὁ ἀνοίγων καὶ οὐδεὶς κλείσει, καὶ κλείων καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀνοίγει:

    These things says the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens

    Words of the risen Christ in John's vision (Revelation's report), to the church in Philadelphia. KJV: "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;"

  5. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Et erit in die illa: vocabo servum meum Eliacim, filium Helciæ, et induam illum tunica tua, et cingulo tuo confortabo eum, et potestatem tuam dabo in manu ejus; et erit quasi pater habitantibus Jerusalem et domui Juda. Et dabo clavem domus David super humerum ejus; et aperiet, et non erit qui claudat; et claudet, et non erit qui aperiat. Et figam illum paxillum in loco fideli, et erit in solium gloriæ domui patris ejus. Et suspendent super eum omnem gloriam domus patris ejus; vasorum diversa genera, omne vas parvulum, a vasis craterarum usque ad omne vas musicorum. In die illa, dicit Dominus exercituum, auferetur paxillus qui fixus fuerat in loco fideli, et frangetur, et cadet, et peribit quod pependerat in eo, quia Dominus locutus est.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 22:20–25. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  6. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וְהָיָ֖ה בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֑וּא וְקָרָ֣אתִי לְעַבְדִּ֔י לְאֶלְיָקִ֖ים בֶּן־חִלְקִיָּֽהוּ׃ וְהִלְבַּשְׁתִּ֣יו כֻּתָּנְתֶּ֗ךָ וְאַבְנֵֽטְךָ֙ אֲחַזְּקֶ֔נּוּ וּמֶֽמְשֶׁלְתְּךָ֖ אֶתֵּ֣ן בְּיָד֑וֹ וְהָיָ֥ה לְאָ֛ב לְיוֹשֵׁ֥ב יְרוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם וּלְבֵ֥ית יְהוּדָֽה׃ וְנָתַתִּ֛י מַפְתֵּ֥חַ בֵּית־דָּוִ֖ד עַל־שִׁכְמ֑וֹ וּפָתַח֙ וְאֵ֣ין סֹגֵ֔ר וְסָגַ֖ר וְאֵ֥ין פֹּתֵֽחַ׃ וּתְקַעְתִּ֥יו יָתֵ֖ד בְּמָק֣וֹם נֶאֱמָ֑ן וְהָיָ֛ה לְכִסֵּ֥א כָב֖וֹד לְבֵ֥ית אָבִֽיו׃ וְתָל֨וּ עָלָ֜יו כֹּ֣ל ׀ כְּב֣וֹד בֵּית־אָבִ֗יו הַצֶּֽאֱצָאִים֙ וְהַצְּפִע֔וֹת כֹּ֖ל כְּלֵ֣י הַקָּטָ֑ן מִכְּלֵי֙ הָֽאַגָּנ֔וֹת וְעַ֖ד כָּל־כְּלֵ֥י הַנְּבָלִֽים׃ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא נְאֻם֙ יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת תָּמוּשׁ֙ הַיָּתֵ֔ד הַתְּקוּעָ֖ה בְּמָק֣וֹם נֶאֱמָ֑ן וְנִגְדְּעָ֣ה וְנָפְלָ֗ה וְנִכְרַת֙ הַמַּשָּׂ֣א אֲשֶׁר־עָלֶ֔יהָ כִּ֥י יְהוָ֖ה דִּבֵּֽר׃

    I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; he will open and none shall shut, he will shut and none shall open (v. 22)

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 22:20–25.

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it.

  8. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Et ce jour-là j’appellerai mon serviteur Éliacim, fils d’Helcias, Et je le revêtirai de ta robe, et je lui donnerai ta couronne avec l’empire, et je confierai ton ministère à ses mains, et il sera comme un père pour ceux qui résident à Jérusalem et habitent en Judée. Et je lui donnerai la gloire de David, et il gouvernera, et il n’aura point de contradicteur; et je mettrai sur son épaule la clef de la maison de David; il ouvrira, et nul ne fermera; il fermera, et nul n’ouvrira. Et je l’établirai prince en un lieu sûr, et il sera comme un trône de gloire pour la maison de son père. Et tout homme en honneur dans la maison de son père, du petit au grand, mettra sa confiance en lui, et tous dépendront de lui. En ce jour, voilà ce que dit le Seigneur Dieu des armées: L’homme qui avait été établi en un lieu sûr, y sera ébranlé; il en sera arraché, et il tombera, et sa gloire sera anéantie; parce qu’ainsi l’a dit le Seigneur.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 22:20–25. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

What changed, and why

Classification: stable Hebrew text; Greek plus; Revelation = later application.

In 36:3 Eliakim is "over the household" and Shebna "the scribe."

Matthew 16:19 (Peter's keys) is often compared; Matthew does not cite Isaiah.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedRevelation 3:7 applies Isaiah 22:22 to Christ.
  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek adds "the glory of David." Giguet; C check.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 22: The Key of the House of David →"The valley of vision": Jerusalem celebrates on its rooftops though its leaders fled and were captured; Isaiah weeps for "the daughter of my people" (22:1–4). A day of tumult with Elamite and Kirite troops; Judah's defenses exposed; the people inspect the armory, count the breaches, pull down houses to strengthen the wall and build a reservoir, "but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof" (vv. 5–11). God called for mourning; they feasted: "let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die" (vv. 12–14). Shebna, the steward "over the house," carving himself a lofty tomb, will be tossed like a ball into a far land (vv. 15–19); Eliakim son of Hilkiah will receive his robe and "the key of the house of David" (vv. 20–24); yet even this secure peg will one day give way (v. 25).
    • Investigation: Jesus and Isaiah →Isaiah is quoted in the Gospels more than any other prophet. This study registers 55 uses that involve Jesus: 20 in Matthew, 14 in Mark, 12 in Luke and 9 in John. For each it records who speaks (Jesus as the Gospel reports him, the narrator, John the Baptist, a heavenly voice, Simeon, or a later scribe), the Isaiah passage and its original setting, the Gospel's Greek wording, whether the use is an explicit quotation, a quotation without formula, an allusion, a proposed allusion, or a later Christian connection, and how that Gospel uses it. Each Gospel is kept separate.