What Does 2 Chronicles 20:16 Mean?
Tomorrow, go down against them. Behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the edge of the streambed, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
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
To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.THE KEY
The “ascent” and the enemy “coming up” share one Hebrew root, making the terrain echo their movement.
THE MEANING
When this word meets you in a threatened place, it keeps the terrain in view: the route, the opposing movements, and the meeting point are named. You descend toward them as they rise along the ascent. The encounter is located at the edge of a brook and the wilderness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that an approaching threat makes the whole path unknowable: the enemy is still coming, yet the meeting place is already named.
THE ROOT
מַעֲלֵה
maʿaleh
GROWS FROM
ע־ל־ה
ʿalah
To rise, go up, ascend.
Alongside the KJV’s “cliff,” the Hebrew maʿaleh carries the sense of an ascent. The verse uses the same root again in “they come up,” so the path and the enemy’s movement echo one another.
ALSO GROWS
ʿolim: rising, coming up
עֹלִים
This is the same-root word used for the approaching group; their movement repeats the ascent named in the terrain.
ʿolah: that which rises; a burnt offering
עֹלָה
This noun preserves the root’s upward movement, as maʿaleh names the route by its ascent.
רְדוּ
redū
GROWS FROM
י־ר־ד
yarad
To descend, go down.
“go down” in this verse is redū. The command to descend stands opposite the repeated ascent of the opposing force. The verse maps both movements toward one specified meeting place.
ALSO GROWS
horid: to cause to descend, bring down
הוֹרִיד
This form shows the root can describe directed downward movement, echoing the command given here.
Yarden: Jordan; “the descender”
יַרְדֵּן
The river’s name carries the same descending motion, another way Hebrew can hold movement inside a place-name.
THE PATTERN
Guidance names a route and meeting point while danger is still approaching.
Speak to the children of Israel, and let them turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, facing Baal-zephon. Before it you will encamp by the sea.And the king of Israel sent to the place the man of God had told him and warned him of, and there he guarded himself, not once and not twice.And the messenger of the LORD spoke to Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is empty.THE THREAD
You will not need to fight in this war. Take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear, nor be shattered. Tomorrow, go out against them, for the LORD will be with you.The route and meeting point in this verse lead into the next verse’s posture: stand, and see the LORD’s deliverance. Precise movement and received deliverance occupy one sequence.
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