What Does 2 Chronicles 26:20 Mean?
And Azariah the head priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and look, he was leprous in his forehead; and they thrust him out from thence; yea, he himself hurried also to go out, because the LORD had struck him.
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 Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind the LORD’s “smiting” also names a plague, holding the stroke and the bodily affliction in one word-family.
THE MEANING
You see a body marked on the forehead, and the priests hurry him out. Their action is described with a word of alarmed haste, and the verse names the affliction as the LORD’s stroke. The departure comes through both human action and divine affliction.
THE ROOT
נְגָעוֹ
nəgāʿô
GROWS FROM
נגע
Touch, reach, or strike; the same root also names a stroke or plague.
“struck” in this verse is nəgāʿô. The form translated “had smitten him” belongs to a root that can describe touching or reaching, while its noun form names a stroke or plague. The Hebrew holds the LORD’s blow and the bodily affliction it leaves within one word-family.
ALSO GROWS
nāgaʿ: To touch, reach, or strike.
נָגַע
This verb form shows the root’s sense of contact behind the verse’s “smitten.”
negaʿ: A stroke, plague, or affliction.
נֶגַע
This noun shows how the same root names the affliction itself, not only the act that reaches the body.
וַיַּבְהִילוּהוּ
wayyavhilūhū
GROWS FROM
בהל
To be alarmed or dismayed; to hurry or hasten.
“thrust him out” in this verse is wayyavhilūhū. The Hebrew verb foregrounds alarmed haste where “thrust” foregrounds force and direction. The priests’ removal is urgent, and the next clause says he too is driven toward the exit.
ALSO GROWS
bāhal: To be alarmed, dismayed, or hurried.
בָּהַל
This verbal branch makes the priests’ urgency part of the scene.
behālāh: Alarm, panic, or sudden terror.
בְּהָלָה
This noun carries the root’s sense of disturbance, clarifying the force behind their hurried response.
THE PATTERN
A visible bodily affliction reshapes where a person may stand among others.
All the days in which the stroke is in him, he shall be soiled; he is soiled. He shall sit alone; outside the camp shall his sitting place be.Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you, and to your seed for the ages. And he went out from before his face a leper white as snow.And as he entered a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, standing far off.THE THREAD
And the LORD said to Moses, One more stroke will I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. After this he will let you go from here, and when he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here altogether.The Hebrew word translated “plague” is נֶגַע (negaʿ), from the same root as the LORD’s striking of Uzziah. One word-family holds both the stroke that reaches a body and the affliction that follows.
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