What Does 1 Chronicles 20:4 Mean?
And it came to pass after this, that there was war at Gezer with the Philistines, and then Sibbechai the Hushathite struck down Sippai of the children of the Rapha, and they were brought low.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines; at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, that was of the children of the giant: and they were subdued.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “they were subdued” also appears when people “humble themselves”: both describe being brought low, though one follows defeat and the other comes through self-lowering.
THE MEANING
War rises at Gezer; Sibbechai kills Sippai, and the opposing force is brought low. The verse holds one warrior’s death and the wider defeat together, keeping the violence and its consequence in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The encounter ends with Sippai’s death alone; the verse also names the subduing of the larger force.
THE ROOT
וַיִּכָּנְעוּ
vayikkaneʿu
GROWS FROM
כ־נ־ע
k-n-ʿ
Be brought low, humbled, or subdued.
“brought low” in this verse is vayikkaneʿu. English separates “they were subdued” here from “humble themselves” in 2 Chronicles 7:14, but both use this root. Here the lowering follows a killing and describes defeat; elsewhere, the same root describes people humbling themselves.
ALSO GROWS
hikhniʿa: To subdue, bring low
הִכְנִיעַ
This causative form names the act of lowering another; it makes the outcome broader than the strike against Sippai.
nikhnaʿ: To be subdued, humble oneself
נִכְנַע
This form can describe being brought low or humbling oneself, depending on context; the same root links the force’s defeat here with the people’s self-humbling in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
THE PATTERN
Scripture marks a decisive conflict by showing how the defeated are brought into a changed position.
And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines until you came to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the pierced of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.You gird me with strength for war; you make those who rise against me bow beneath me.For he must govern until he sets all his enemies under his feet.THE THREAD
If my people, upon whom my name is called, bend themselves low, and pray, and seek my face, and turn back from their harmful ways, then I will hear from the heavens, and I will release their falling short, and heal their land.“Humble themselves” translates the same root כנע (k-n-ʿ) as “they were subdued” here. The shared root holds both a force brought low through defeat and people lowering themselves in humility, while the context keeps those experiences distinct.
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