What Does 2 Chronicles 18:4 Mean?
And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Seek, I pray you, the word of the LORD today.
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 Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.THE KEY
“Enquire” is darash, an active seeking, so the LORD’s word is something the king turns toward for this very day.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the moment when you need direction: seeking the LORD’s word belongs in the decision now. Jehoshaphat asks for it “to day,” holding the choice open while the LORD’s word is sought.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a consequential decision can be settled by personal judgment alone; the LORD’s word is sought while the choice is still present.
THE ROOT
דְּרָשׁ
darash
GROWS FROM
דרש
To seek, inquire after, or resort to.
English “enquire” can sound like a brief request for information; darash carries the movement of searching for or turning toward the LORD. The KJV’s “seek” in Deuteronomy 4:29 comes from this same root, linking Jehoshaphat’s request to a deeper pursuit.
ALSO GROWS
doresh: One who seeks or inquires.
דּוֹרֵשׁ
The root describes a person actively seeking, not merely receiving information.
midrash: Inquiry, exposition, or interpretive study.
מִדְרָשׁ
It carries the root’s seeking into sustained study and interpretation.
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; as a noun, an utterance, word, matter, or thing.
Hebrew davar can name both an utterance and a matter or thing. The phrase links what the LORD says with the matter at hand: this is the word Jehoshaphat asks the king to seek today.
ALSO GROWS
davar: A word, utterance, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
It shows that the word being sought can also name the matter the speech concerns.
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֶּר
This verb from the same root makes the spoken quality of the LORD’s word audible.
יְהוֹשָׁפָט
Yehoshaphat
GROWS FROM
שפט
To judge, decide, or govern.
“Jehoshaphat” in this verse is Yehoshaphat. Yehoshaphat’s name means “the LORD judges.” Its nature echoes in his request: the king is directed toward the LORD’s word for discernment.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: A judge; one who decides.
שֹׁפֵט
It expresses the judging element carried in Jehoshaphat’s name.
mishpat: Judgment, justice, or an ordinance.
מִשְׁפָּט
It shows the root’s connection to judgment and decision, the very discernment sought in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Discernment begins as an active, present seeking of the LORD and what he says.
Flourishing are those who guard his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart.And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.And I say to you, Ask, and it is given to you; seek, and you find; knock, and it is opened to you.THE THREAD
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your living soul.The second “seek” in Deuteronomy renders the same root, דרש (darash, “to seek or inquire after”), that Jehoshaphat uses for “Enquire.” In both verses, seeking is a deliberate turning toward the LORD, and Deuteronomy names the horizon of that movement: finding.
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