What Does 2 Chronicles 3:17 Mean?
And he raised the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.
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 reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.THE KEY
The temple’s two pillars proclaim a paired truth: one is established, and the other is strength.
THE MEANING
The verse places two named pillars before the temple: Jachin means “He establishes,” and Boaz is commonly understood as “in him is strength.” Their names make establishment and strength stand together at the threshold.
THE ROOT
יָכִין
Yāḵîn
GROWS FROM
כון
Be firm; establish.
“Jachin” in this verse is Yāḵîn. The name is a verb-shaped declaration: “He establishes.” It names firmness as something set in place, and the neighboring pillar’s name adds strength beside that act.
ALSO GROWS
kûn: Be firm or established.
כּוּן
This is the root beneath Jachin’s name, linking the pillar with the act of being set firm.
māḵôn: A fixed place or dwelling.
מָכוֹן
The same root gives a place its quality of being established, fitting the pillar’s position before the temple.
בֹּעַז
Bōʿaz
GROWS FROM
עזז
Be strong; have strength.
“Boaz” in this verse is Bōʿaz. The name carries עֹז (ʿōz, strength) within it and is commonly understood as “in him is strength.” Beside Jachin, it turns the two pillars into a paired statement about establishment and strength at the temple’s threshold.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōz: Strength or might.
עֹז
This is the strength named in Boaz, making the pillar’s name a statement of what supports the structure.
māʿōz: Stronghold or refuge.
מָעוֹז
The same strength-root can describe a place of security, extending Boaz’s image from inner strength to shelter.
THE PATTERN
What endures is pictured through both being set firm and being strengthened.
With whom my hand will be set firm; my arm also will strengthen him.Let the sweetness of the LORD our God be upon us, and set firm upon us the work of our hands; the work of our hands, set it firm.That he would give you, according to the riches of his weight, to be made firm with strength through his breath in the inner humankind.THE THREAD
With whom my hand will be set firm; my arm also will strengthen him.This verse places establishment and strength together in one line, as the names Jachin and Boaz stand together on the two pillars. The pairing lets the pillars read as more than supports: their names speak of what is set firm and what gives strength.
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