What Does 2 Chronicles 24:25 Mean?
And when they had gone away from him, for they had let go of him in great sicknesses, his servants bound together against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the graves of the kings.
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 when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.THE KEY
The hidden force in “conspired” is binding: Joash’s own servants become a group joined in the act that ends his life.
THE MEANING
The verse makes closeness no guarantee of safety: Joash’s servants bind together against him over the blood of Jehoiada’s sons. They kill him on his bed, and his burial in David’s city still excludes him from the kings’ tombs. Loyalty, violence, and public honor occupy the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that royal rank and household loyalty can secure an honored death.
THE ROOT
הִתְקַשְּׁרוּ
hitqashru
GROWS FROM
קשר
qāshar
To bind or tie together.
“bound together” in this verse is hitqashru. The verb translated “conspired” comes from a root meaning to bind or tie. The servants’ shared act carries an image of people joined together around violence, a bond that becomes a form of constriction.
ALSO GROWS
qāshar: To tie or bind together.
קָשַׁר
This verb supplies the image of people linked into one act.
qesher: A bond; a conspiracy.
קֶשֶׁר
The noun can name both a connection and a conspiratorial alliance, revealing the binding inside the plot.
וַיִּקְבְּרֻהוּ
vayyiqberuhu
GROWS FROM
קבר
qābar
To bury or inter.
“graves” in this verse is vayyiqberuhu. The verse repeats the language of burial to distinguish where Joash is placed from the honor of burial among the kings. The city receives his body, but the royal tombs do not; burial itself carries a judgment about status.
ALSO GROWS
qever: A grave or tomb.
קֶבֶר
The verse names the royal tombs as the place from which Joash is excluded.
qevurah: Burial or interment.
קְבוּרָה
This branch keeps the focus on burial as an act that can carry public honor or its absence.
THE PATTERN
Violence returns upon the one who commits it and can strip away the honor that status seems to promise.
His toil turns back upon his head, and his violence comes down upon his skull.Then Jesus said to him, Turn your sword back to its place, for all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.THE THREAD
And his servants rose and bound themselves together against him, and struck Joash down in the house of Millo, which goes down to Silla.The Hebrew behind “made a conspiracy” uses קשר (qāshar, “to bind or tie”), the same root behind “conspired” here. The English preserves the action; the root reveals the servants as a group bound together around the killing.
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