What Does 2 Chronicles 20:36 Mean?
And he bound himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion-geber.
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 joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Ezion-geber.THE KEY
Joining becomes visible in the shared work and common direction it creates.
THE MEANING
A bond takes shape in what you make together: shared labor gathers separate effort into one undertaking with a destination in view. The joining is not abstract; it becomes ships built for a common purpose.
THE ROOT
וַיְחַבְּרֵהוּ
vayḥabberēhû
GROWS FROM
חָבַר
ḥābar
to join, unite, or associate
“bound himself” in this verse is vayḥabberēhû. The root חָבַר also forms חָבֵר (ḥāver), a companion, and חֲבֻרָה (ḥavurah), a company or association. Here the joining becomes concrete: the partners make ships together and aim them toward a shared destination.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāver: companion, associate
חָבֵר
The relationship formed by joining is carried in the word for a companion.
ḥavurah: company, association
חֲבֻרָה
The joined relationship can become a collective body, as the two parties here become partners in one undertaking.
THE PATTERN
A bond becomes visible in the shared work and direction it creates.
And the LORD said, Look, they are one people, and they have all one lip; and this is what they begin to do. And now nothing they have devised to do will be walled off from them.Two are better than one, because they have good wages for their toil.For we are fellow workers with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.THE THREAD
Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you bound yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has broken your deeds. And the ships were shattered, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.The next verse uses the same root, חָבַר (ḥābar), for the joining, then names the broken work and ships. The repeated root binds the partnership to what becomes of the undertaking it creates.
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