What Does 2 Chronicles 26:13 Mean?
And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty strength, to help the king against the enemy.
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 under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.THE KEY
The same Hebrew word, חַיִל (chayil, force), names both the army and its power: the gathered force is the strength brought to bear.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you about strength gathered and directed toward a shared task. It names the army’s purpose plainly: to help the king against the enemy.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that opposition must be faced alone: here, aid is gathered around the one facing the enemy.
THE ROOT
חֵיל
cheil
GROWS FROM
חיל
ḥ-y-l
Force, capacity, or resources; depending on context, military strength, valor, or wealth.
English renders חֵיל (cheil, army) and חָיִל (chayil, power) with different words, though both are forms of חַיִל (chayil, force or capacity). The same word can describe military strength, a person’s valor, or wealth, so the army itself is presented as concentrated capacity made available for aid.
ALSO GROWS
cheil tsava: Army, military force
חֵיל צָבָא
This is the form used for the troops here, naming the gathered force itself.
eshet chayil: Woman of valor or strength
אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל
Proverbs 31:10 uses the same word for a person’s capability, beyond a military setting.
ha-chayil: The wealth or resources
הַחַיִל
Deuteronomy 8:17 uses chayil for wealth, extending the word to material capacity.
לַעְזֹר
la'azor
GROWS FROM
עזר
ʿ-z-r
To help, support, or come to someone’s aid.
לַעְזֹר (la’azor, to help) shares its root with עֵזֶר (ezer, aid) and עֹזֵר (ozer, helper): help is both the aid given and the one who gives it. Here, the army’s scale is joined to a purpose, it is there to assist the king against opposition.
ALSO GROWS
ezer: Help or aid
עֵזֶר
This noun names the aid itself, making clear that the army’s stated purpose is practical support.
ozer: Helper, one who aids
עֹזֵר
This form names the agent who helps, echoing the people gathered here to assist the king.
THE PATTERN
Strength meets opposition through coordinated support.
But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone and set it under him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on this side and the other on that side, and his hands were steady until the sun went down.For by steering you make your war, and in a multitude of counselors there is deliverance.And they came to him, bringing a paralyzed man, lifted by four.THE THREAD
My help comes from the LORD, who makes heavens and earth.The army’s purpose is expressed by לַעְזֹר (la’azor, to help), from עזר (ʿ-z-r); Psalm 121:2 uses the same root in עֶזְרִי (ezri, my help). The shared word connects organized human aid with help from the LORD, widening the verse’s picture of support.
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