What Does 2 Chronicles 13:19 Mean?
And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him, Bethel with its towns, Jeshanah with its towns, and Ephrain with its towns.
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 Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Beth-el with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephrain with the towns thereof.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb for pursuit can drive a chase for cities or a pursuit of justice; its force stays constant while its object changes.
THE MEANING
Abijah (אֲבִיָּה, Aviyah, “Yah is my father”) pursues Jeroboam and takes Bethel (בֵּית־אֵל, Bet-El, “house of God”), Jeshanah, and Ephrain with their towns. The verse shows victory as territorial seizure: even the name “house of God” appears among the places taken, and the text leaves the violence of that transfer in view.
THE ROOT
רָדַף
radaf
GROWS FROM
רדף
r-d-p
To pursue, chase after.
Here, רָדַף names the chase that ends in seized cities. The same root is used for pursuing justice and peace elsewhere, so the Hebrew keeps pursuit’s force intact while the thing pursued determines where that force leads.
ALSO GROWS
tirdof: “You shall pursue”; Deuteronomy uses the same verb for the pursuit of justice.
תִּרְדֹּף
The same verb that describes Abijah’s chase can be directed toward justice, showing that pursuit’s force takes its character from its object.
weradfehu: “And pursue it”; Psalm 34 directs the same root toward peace.
וְרָדְפֵהוּ
The word for pursuing cities here can also describe actively pursuing peace; the root carries the act of pursuit across both.
וַיִּלְכֹּד
vayilkod
GROWS FROM
לכד
l-k-d
To catch, seize, capture.
The word translated “took” presents the cities as captured territory, not as an abstract change in power. The verb makes the outcome physical: places and their surrounding towns pass into another ruler’s possession.
ALSO GROWS
lakad: To catch or capture.
לָכַד
This is the root verb behind the cities being taken in the verse.
nilkad: Was captured or caught.
נִלְכַּד
This passive form makes clear the other side of the same action: what one pursues and seizes is also what becomes captured.
THE PATTERN
Pursuit puts force behind its object and presses toward a concrete outcome.
And David asked of the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail snatch back all.Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.So then let us pursue the things that move toward wholeness, and the things that build one another up.THE THREAD
Alignment, alignment, you shall pursue, so that you may live and take hold of the land the LORD your God gives you.“Follow” here translates תִּרְדֹּף (tirdof), from the same root רדף (radaf, pursue) used for Abijah’s chase. The verb’s force remains the same, while its object shifts from Jeroboam and his cities to justice.
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