What Does 2 Chronicles 10:3 Mean?

And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

2 Chronicles 10:3 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And they sent and called him. So Jeroboam and all Israel came and spake to Rehoboam, saying,

THE KEY

The people’s voice reaches Rehoboam, a name formed around widening, through a summons already in motion: they send, call, and gather.

THE MEANING

A summons moves through the people: Jeroboam is called, all Israel comes, and their words reach Rehoboam. His name joins ⁨רָחַב⁩ (rachav, widen) with ⁨עַם⁩ (‘am, people), carrying the sense of a people enlarged as their collective voice reaches him.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This scene undoes the belief that only a ruler’s voice shapes the encounter: all Israel comes and speaks to him.

THE ROOT

רְחַבְעָם

Reḥav‘am

GROWS FROM

רחב

Widen, broaden, make room; the name also includes ⁨עַם⁩ (‘am, people).

“Rehoboam” in this verse is Reḥav‘am. The name ⁨רְחַבְעָם⁩ (Reḥav‘am) joins ⁨רחב⁩ (rachav, widen) with ⁨עַם⁩ (‘am, people), and is commonly understood as “the people are enlarged.” A gathered people speak to the one whose name carries their widening.

ALSO GROWS

rachav: Wide or spacious.

רָחָב

The root gives Rehoboam’s name its sense of widening.

hirḥiv: To widen, enlarge, or make room.

הִרְחִיב

It makes the name’s widening concrete as room made for a people.

Reḥovot: Broad places or open spaces.

רְחֹבוֹת

This place-name shares the root and shows widening as room to inhabit.

וַיִּשְׁלְחוּ

vayishleḥu

GROWS FROM

שׁלח

Send forth or send away; the root also carries the sense of release.

Here the word describes a message sent out to summon Jeroboam. Its wider send-away and release sense belongs to the same root, while the immediate action here is a summons set in motion.

ALSO GROWS

shaliach: A messenger or dispatched agent.

שָׁלִיחַ

The sent message in this verse implies someone carrying a call from the people.

shilluach: Sending away or dismissal.

שִׁלּוּחַ

This branch shows the root’s range from sending a message to sending someone away.

וַיִּקְרְאוּ

vayiqre’u

GROWS FROM

קרא

Call out, summon, or proclaim; the same verb can also mean read aloud.

“called” in this verse is vayiqre’u. The call is more than a label: qara can summon someone into a place or give words a public voice. All Israel’s arrival and speech complete the movement begun by the call.

ALSO GROWS

miqra: A convocation or reading.

מִקְרָא

The same root can describe people summoned together and words read aloud.

qeri’ah: A calling or recitation.

קְרִיאָה

This branch links the summons to the spoken words that follow.

THE PATTERN

A summons brings people into a shared encounter where concerns can be spoken before authority.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together, and came to Samuel at Ramah. And they said to him, Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now set over us a king to judge us like all the nations.

1 Samuel 8:4-5 · SDVThe elders gather before Samuel and state their request together.

And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the lifted ones, and before all the assembly, at the opening of the tent of meeting, saying, Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the midst of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the assembly of Korah, but died in his own falling short, and had no sons.

Numbers 27:2-3 · SDVThe daughters stand before the leaders and congregation and give voice to their claim.

Then the twelve called the full crowd of the disciples near, and said, It is not pleasing that we should leave behind the word of God and serve tables.

Acts 6:2 · SDVThe twelve summon the community into a shared conversation about its needs.

THE THREAD

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.

Exodus 5:1 · SDV

“Sent” here comes from ⁨שׁלח⁩ (shalach, send forth or release), the same root in ⁨לְשַׁלַּח⁩ (leshalleach, to send away or release), translated “Let my people go” in Exodus 5:1. The shared root links a summons set in motion with release: words sent among a people can begin movement out of constriction.

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