What Does 2 Chronicles 17:13 Mean?
And he had much work in the cities of Judah, and the men of battle, the mighty men of strength, were in Jerusalem.
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 he had much business in the cities of Judah: and the men of war, mighty men of valour, were in Jerusalem.THE KEY
Judah’s strength is both spread through the work of its cities and gathered for protection at its center.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to your life as a picture of work carried across many places and strength gathered where it can meet pressure. Jerusalem carries the language of wholeness, and here protective strength stands within that image of wholeness.
THE ROOT
גִּבּוֹרֵי
gibborei
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
To be strong or prevail.
The word translated “mighty” grows from the same root as the verb for prevailing: strength is a capacity to withstand or overcome pressure. Here that strength is embodied in the people gathered at the city’s center.
ALSO GROWS
gavar: To be strong, prevail, or become mighty.
גָּבַר
This verb shows the active force contained in “mighty”: the word points to strength that holds or prevails.
gevurah: Might, strength, or valor.
גְּבוּרָה
This noun names the strength itself, linking the warriors’ description to a broader quality of power.
gibbor: A mighty person, hero, or warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This is the singular form behind the verse’s plural, making the people’s gathered strength visible in each person.
חַיִל
chayil
GROWS FROM
חיל
ḥ-y-l
Strength, force, or capacity.
“mighty men of strength” in this verse is chayil. The Hebrew behind “valour” can also refer to an army, resources, or capability. The verse therefore holds personal courage within a wider field of collective strength and means.
ALSO GROWS
chayil: An army, host, or military force.
חַיִל
The same word can name organized force, so the warriors’ valor belongs to the strength gathered for a community.
eshet chayil: A woman of strength, capability, or valor.
אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל
Proverbs uses this phrase for a woman, showing that this capacity reaches beyond battlefield courage.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
Wholeness, completeness, or soundness.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The city’s name carries the language of wholeness, and the verse places armed strength within that named center. Read together, readiness and wholeness occupy the same picture.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being, or peace.
שָׁלוֹם
This branch brings the meaning of wholeness into the name of the place where the warriors stand.
shalem: Whole, complete, or sound.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes the root’s sense of completeness explicit, illuminating Jerusalem as a center named for wholeness.
THE PATTERN
A community is sustained when many kinds of work and strength are brought into service together.
They who built on the wall, and they who bore burdens, with those who lifted the load, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand gripped a weapon.Who can find a woman of strength? Her price is far above rubies.As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.THE THREAD
Who can find a woman of strength? Her price is far above rubies.The warriors in this verse are described with the word chayil, also rendered “virtuous” in Proverbs’ description of a woman. That shared word reveals strength and capability as a broader human capacity, not a quality limited to the battlefield.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us