What Does 2 Chronicles 13:15 Mean?
Then the men of Judah raised a shout, and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God struck down Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
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
Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.THE KEY
The people whose name carries praise raise the battle cry, but the verse assigns the blow to God.
THE MEANING
In the conflict before you now, this verse places a human cry beside an act beyond it: Judah shouts, while God is named as the one who smites. The violence remains explicit, Jeroboam and all Israel are struck before Abijah and Judah.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Judah’s shout itself supplies the power that defeats Israel.
THE ROOT
תְּרוּעָה
teruʿah
GROWS FROM
רוע
רוּעַ (ruaʿ): to raise a shout or cry, including an alarm.
The verse gives the cry as both a noun and a verb from the same root, making the shout ring through the clause. That root can voice alarm or triumph; here its battle cry is followed by a blow attributed to God.
ALSO GROWS
beharīaʿ: as Judah shouted
בְּהָרִיעַ
This verb form follows the noun teruʿah in the verse, echoing the same root as both the cry and the act of crying out.
hārīʿū: shout (to God)
הָרִיעוּ
Psalm 47:1 uses this root for a triumphant shout, showing how the same word family can voice celebration or combat.
יְהוּדָה
Yehudah
GROWS FROM
ידה
יָדָה (yādāh): to praise, give thanks, or acknowledge.
Genesis 29:35 links the name Judah with Leah’s praise, so the English name conceals a praise-root in the people who shout. That resonance does not soften the battle: here the cry accompanies God smiting Israel.
ALSO GROWS
yādāh: praise, give thanks, acknowledge
יָדָה
Leah uses this verb as she names Judah, carrying the language of praise into the name repeated in this verse.
tōdāh: thanksgiving, praise
תּוֹדָה
This noun belongs to the same word family and echoes the praise carried in Judah’s name, even as the passage holds the violence of battle in view.
THE PATTERN
A cry can mark a turning point while the change that follows exceeds the speakers’ power.
So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell beneath itself, so that the people climbed up into the city, every man straight ahead of his face, and they seized the city.In my narrow place I call out to the LORD, and I cry out to my God. From his temple he hears and answers my voice, and my cry comes into his ears.In the middle of the night Paul and Silas prayed and sang praise to God, and the prisoners listened to them. And suddenly there came a great shaking, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and at once all the doors were opened, and every one's bonds were untied.THE THREAD
So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell beneath itself, so that the people climbed up into the city, every man straight ahead of his face, and they seized the city.Joshua uses the same shout-root for the people shouting and for their great shout, then places the wall’s collapse immediately after it. The echo shows the cry at the threshold of an outcome; here, Chronicles names God as the one who strikes.
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