What Does 2 Chronicles 10:13 Mean?
And the king bent them low, hard, and king Rehoboam let go of the counsel of the old men that they had given him.
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 the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men,THE KEY
The “rough” reply is literally a hard one, revealing a posture in which counsel is already being shut out.
THE MEANING
The verse places two movements side by side: the answer turns hard, and counsel is left behind. In the reader, forceful speech can mark a narrowing in which wisdom no longer reaches the decision-maker. The hard reply exposes a deeper refusal to receive counsel.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a sharp answer is only a matter of tone: here, hardness accompanies the choice to abandon counsel.
THE ROOT
קָשֶׁה
qāšeh
GROWS FROM
קשה
To be hard, severe, or difficult.
“Roughly” can sound like a matter of tone, but qasheh carries the sense of hardness or severity. Its verbal branches describe becoming hard and making hard, so the hard reply and the rejection of counsel read as one hardening pattern rather than two unrelated choices.
ALSO GROWS
qāšâ: To be hard or severe.
קָשָׁה
The word’s verbal form makes hardness a condition that can take hold, not just a sharp sound.
hiqšâ: To make hard; to harden.
הִקְשָׁה
This branch connects the hard reply with the possibility that resistance to counsel is itself becoming fixed.
THE PATTERN
Speech reveals whether counsel can still reach us: harshness stirs conflict, while listening keeps the path of wisdom open.
A soft answer turns away the burning, but words of pain stir up the nostrils.The way of a fool is straight in his own eyes, but the one who hears and responds to counsel is wise.Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to swell. For the swelling of a man does not work out the alignment of God.THE THREAD
Flourishing is the man who trembles always, but the one who stiffens his heart shall fall into harm.“Hardeneth” comes from the same root, קשה (qashah), as the word rendered “roughly.” The shared root links the hard reply with a hardened heart, where resistance to counsel leads toward trouble.
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