What Does 2 Chronicles 1:1 Mean?
And Solomon the son of David held fast the kingdom in his hand, and the LORD his God was with him, and made him exceedingly great.
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 Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.THE KEY
The LORD’s nearness is the hinge between a kingdom made firm and a ruler made great.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now to the authority you carry: the LORD’s nearness belongs alongside its being made firm and its growth. What becomes strong and what becomes greater remain joined to that presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a secure life or calling comes entirely from your own force; here firmness and enlargement are named alongside the LORD’s presence.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְחַזֵּק
wayyitḥazzēq
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be firm or strong; to strengthen or make firm.
“held fast the kingdom in his hand” in this verse is wayyitḥazzēq. English can make this sound like abstract strength; the Hebrew root also carries the sense of being made firm. The verse describes Solomon’s kingdom gaining stability before describing his enlargement.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: Be strong or firm.
חָזַק
This branch shows that “strengthened” can describe becoming stable, not only gaining force.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen or make firm.
חִזֵּק
This form uses the same seed for actively establishing something in strength.
וַיְגַדְּלֵהוּ
waygaddēlêhû
GROWS FROM
גדל
g-d-l
To grow, become great, or make great.
“made him exceedingly great” in this verse is waygaddēlêhû. The Hebrew verb presents the LORD as making Solomon great, so “magnified” carries enlargement, not only increased esteem. The verse moves from a kingdom made firm to a person whose reach grows exceedingly.
ALSO GROWS
gādōl: Great or large.
גָּדוֹל
This branch shows greatness as a quality of size or significance.
migdāl: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
The tower gives the root a visible scale: greatness rises into something that can be seen.
שְׁלֹמֹה
Shelomoh
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Whole, complete, or sound.
“Solomon” in this verse is Shelomoh. Shelomoh’s name belongs to the same word family as shalom, wholeness. His father David (דָּוִד, Dawid, beloved) carries belovedness in the lineage; the verse’s king is named through wholeness and belonging, not title alone.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness.
שָׁלוֹם
This branch lets Solomon’s name carry the sense of a rule associated with wholeness.
shalem: Whole or complete.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes completeness part of the name’s root family.
THE PATTERN
The text depicts God’s nearness as accompanying a person’s strengthening, growth, or fruitful action.
And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a man who broke through; and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.And the LORD made Solomon exceedingly great in the eyes of all Israel, and set upon him such royal majesty as had not been upon any king before him in Israel.How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Set-Apart Breath and with power, who went through, doing good and healing all who were pressed down by the Slanderer, for God was with him.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Moses, When you go to return to Egypt, see all the wonders which I set in your hand, and do them before the face of Pharaoh. But I will grip his heart, and he will not let the people go.The same root חזק (ḥ-z-q, to be firm or strong) is rendered “strengthened” here and “harden” in Exodus 4:21. The root names firmness; its direction shows in what surrounds it, here it accompanies the LORD’s nearness, while there it closes a heart against release.
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