What Does 2 Chronicles 20:29 Mean?
And the dread of God was upon all the kingdoms of those lands, when they heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.
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 fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.THE KEY
The LORD’s fight becomes a report that carries the felt force of victory far beyond the people who were threatened.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s action against those who threaten his people becomes known beyond the conflict itself. The report reaches surrounding kingdoms, and dread of God settles over them. For you now, the verse shows that divine action can reach people far beyond the center of a struggle.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a struggle matters only to those inside it: the report of divine action reaches and unsettles powers beyond the people directly threatened.
THE ROOT
בְּשָׁמְעָם
bəšomʿām
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed.
The hearing form marks the hinge: the LORD’s fight becomes known, and that report carries its effects outward. Hebrew also uses this root for a report itself, joining what is heard to what travels.
ALSO GROWS
shama: Hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
This is the verb behind “when they heard”; the kingdoms’ response begins with receiving the report.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings, news.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names what travels from the battle into the kingdoms: news of what the LORD has done.
פַּחַד
paḥad
GROWS FROM
פחד
p-ḥ-d
Tremble, dread, experience terror.
“dread of God” in this verse is paḥad. Pachad names fear as dread that takes hold. The same noun appears as “dread” in Exodus 15:16, where “fear and dread” fall upon the people’s enemies.
ALSO GROWS
paḥad: To dread, tremble, be afraid.
פָּחַד
The verb pictures fear as a felt trembling, giving the kingdoms’ reaction a bodily force.
paḥad: Dread, terror.
פַּחַד
This noun names the fear that settles over the kingdoms after they hear of the LORD’s fight.
מַמְלְכוֹת
mamlakhot
GROWS FROM
מלך
m-l-k
Reign, rule.
The Hebrew word for kingdoms grows from the root for king and reign. The report reaches the structures of rule themselves, unsettling the powers that govern those lands.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
The shared root links each kingdom to the authority at its center.
malkhut: Kingship, reign.
מַלְכוּת
This branch points to the exercise of rule that the report reaches across the surrounding lands.
mamlakhah: Kingdom, realm.
מַמְלָכָה
This is another form from the same root, showing how the language of territory remains joined to the language of rule.
THE PATTERN
The report of divine action carries its effects beyond the people directly involved.
This day I begin to set your dread and your fear upon the face of the peoples under all the heavens, who will hear of you, and will tremble, and writhe because of you.And great fear came upon the whole assembly, and upon all who heard these things.THE THREAD
Terror and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of your arm they shall be as still as a stone, until your people cross over, O LORD, until this people you have bought cross over.The word rendered “fear” here is pachad, the same root rendered “dread” in Exodus 15:16. In both verses, the LORD’s action for his people sends trembling beyond the immediate conflict.
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