What Does 2 Chronicles 13:22 Mean?
And the rest of the words of Abijah, and his ways, and his words, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.
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 rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.THE KEY
The Hebrew word behind both “acts” and “sayings” is built on the same root: what Abijah did and what he said are gathered together as matters of his life.
THE MEANING
Your actions, the way you move through life, and your words all belong to the shape of a life; none stands alone. The verse pictures them gathered into a written account associated with the prophet Iddo.
THE ROOT
דִּבְרֵי
divrei
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
d-b-r
Speak; matter or thing.
“words” in this verse is divrei. The KJV renders the first form “acts” and the second “sayings,” though both come from דָּבָר (davar), a word that can mean “word” or “matter.” The verse gathers deeds and speech within one word-family, letting a life’s events and expressions belong to the same account.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
It holds together what is spoken and what is a matter of someone’s life.
dibber: He spoke; to speak.
דִּבֵּר
It makes the speech sense audible within the same root as the “acts” recorded here.
מִדְרָשׁ
midrash
GROWS FROM
ד־ר־שׁ
d-r-sh
Seek, inquire, investigate.
The KJV’s “story” translates מִדְרָשׁ (midrash), a word carrying the sense of inquiry or exposition. The account is thus shaded by the idea of material sought out and examined, not merely a tale told.
ALSO GROWS
darash: To seek, inquire, or investigate.
דָּרַשׁ
This verb gives the written account its underlying sense of seeking into a matter.
midrash: Inquiry or exposition; an interpretive account.
מִדְרָשׁ
This is the word used for the record in which Abijah’s life is written.
דְּרָכָיו
derakhav
GROWS FROM
ד־ר־ך
d-r-k
Tread; take a way.
“His ways” is his דֶּרֶךְ (derekh), his traveled path. The verse places that path beside his matters and words, presenting a life as a course as well as a set of deeds and sayings.
ALSO GROWS
derekh: Road, way, or path.
דֶּרֶךְ
It names the course of life included in the record.
darakh: To tread or step.
דָּרַךְ
It gives the path a lived, traveled quality rather than making it an abstract idea.
THE PATTERN
A written witness gathers a life’s deeds and words into a record that remains available for another reader.
Now the words of David the king, the first and the last, look, they are written in the scroll of Samuel the one who sees, and in that of Nathan the prophet, and in that of Gad the one who sees.Now the words of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days.But these are written so that you might lean your full weight on this, that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God, and that by leaning your weight you might have life in his nature.THE THREAD
And the rest of the words of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the words of Solomon?The Hebrew word rendered “acts” here also comes from ד־ב־ר, the root behind Abijah’s “acts” and “sayings.” In both verses, the record gathers a person’s matters under that shared word-family.
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