What Does 2 Chronicles 26:5 Mean?
And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him break through.
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 sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.THE KEY
The verse locates prosperity in a life turned toward seeking God: he seeks, but God is the one who makes him advance.
THE MEANING
As you seek the LORD, your life is turned toward God, and God is the one who brings progress. Seeking is an ongoing orientation here; prosperity is described as movement God causes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that lasting progress is self-made: this verse places its source in God’s action as the seeking continues.
THE ROOT
דָּרַשׁ
darash
GROWS FROM
דרש
To seek, inquire, or consult.
“sought” in this verse is darash. The Hebrew repeats this root in both clauses: he seeks God, and during his seeking the LORD, God causes him to prosper. The repetition makes seeking the passage’s ongoing orientation, not just a single request.
ALSO GROWS
doresh: One who seeks or inquires.
דֹּרֵשׁ
This related form makes seeking a way of being, not merely an isolated action.
midrash: Inquiry or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
This branch shows how seeking can extend into sustained inquiry and understanding.
הִצְלִיחוֹ
hitzlicho
GROWS FROM
צלח
To advance or succeed; in this verb form, to cause someone to prosper.
“break through” in this verse is hitzlicho. The word presents prosperity as movement God brings about, rather than a possession the seeker produces alone. The same root can describe a forceful advance, giving success the sense of a way being moved forward.
ALSO GROWS
tsalach: To rush upon or come mightily.
צָלַח
In Judges 14:6, this root describes the LORD’s breath coming mightily upon Samson, showing its dynamic sense of forceful movement.
hitzliach: To cause to succeed or prosper.
הִצְלִיחַ
This causative form appears in Genesis 24:21 in the phrase about the LORD making a journey prosperous, keeping the source of success with God.
זְכַרְיָהוּ
Zekharyahu
GROWS FROM
זכר
To remember or call to mind; the name carries the sense “YHWH remembers.”
“Zechariah” in this verse is Zekharyahu. The name’s root adds remembrance to the scene’s language beside its repeated seeking. The verse itself attributes the progress directly to God, while the name quietly echoes that God remembers.
ALSO GROWS
zakar: To remember or call to mind.
זָכַר
This is the verb contained in Zechariah’s name and gives the name its remembrance-rooted sense.
zikaron: Remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
This related form shows remembrance as something held in view, echoing the enduring quality of the name’s meaning.
THE PATTERN
When seeking God shapes a life, the text names God as the source of its progress and provision.
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your living soul.The young lions go lacking and go hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.But seek first the governance of God and his alignment; and all these things will be added to you.THE THREAD
The young lions go lacking and go hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.The Hebrew word behind “seek” is again דָּרַשׁ (darash), the same root repeated in your verse. Psalm 34 pairs that seeking with not lacking good, opening the earlier promise of prosperity toward God’s provision.
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