What Does 2 Chronicles 16:3 Mean?
“There is a covenant between me and you, and between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he may withdraw from me.”
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
There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.THE KEY
Gold is sent to make another king cut a bond and lift a threat.
THE MEANING
This verse names a living bargain: resources move outward to redirect another person’s allegiance and make danger withdraw. The bond is not merely discussed; the request is to cut it so Baasha departs.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a covenant guarantees loyalty under every pressure breaks open here: the verse shows allegiance being targeted through a competing payment.
THE ROOT
כְּרֹת
kĕrōt
GROWS FROM
כרת
to cut, sever
English says “break,” while the Hebrew phrase pictures the covenant as something cut. The request is to sever an existing bond so the threat can be lifted.
ALSO GROWS
keritut: A formal severance.
כְּרִיתוּת
It shows how this root can name the ending of a bond, not just a damaged relationship.
nikhrat: To be severed or cut away.
נִכְרַת
The same root casts the requested break as an actual cutting through a tie.
שָׁלַחְתִּי
shalachti
GROWS FROM
שלח
to send, send away, release
The same root holds sending and release together. Here silver and gold are sent with the aim of releasing Asa from pressure by redirecting another king’s allegiance.
ALSO GROWS
leshalleach: To send someone away or let them go.
לְשַׁלֵּחַ
This is the same verb used in “Let my people go,” where sending becomes release.
shilluach: The act of sending away.
שִׁלּוּחַ
It shows that sending can carry the sense of separation or release, as the payment here is meant to make Baasha’s threat move away.
THE PATTERN
A transfer of wealth can redirect a decision or allegiance toward the payer.
And the rulers of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Coax him, and see where his great strength lies, and with what we may overpower him, that we may bind him to bend him low. And we will give you, each of us, eleven hundred pieces of silver.A wicked man takes a bribe out of the bosom, to bend the ways of judgment.And they were glad, and set terms with him to give him silver.THE THREAD
And the LORD spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.The root behind “sent” here is also the root behind “Let my people go.” In this verse, silver and gold are sent to make a bond be cut; in Exodus, release is spoken directly to the one holding the people.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us