What Does 2 Chronicles 30:26 Mean?
And there was great gladness in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there was nothing like it in Jerusalem.
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
So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.THE KEY
Jerusalem carries twofold wholeness in its name, and this verse shows joy as that wholeness shared.
THE MEANING
Joy here fills Jerusalem as a shared reality, not a private mood. The verse speaks now of gladness so abundant that a gathered people can hold it together as a new measure of fullness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Joy is only private and too slight to register in the life of a whole community.
THE ROOT
שִׂמְחָה
simchah
GROWS FROM
שׂמח
to rejoice, to be glad
The Hebrew noun for joy grows from a root meaning to rejoice, joining the shared state of gladness with the act of rejoicing. The verse presents that joy as something a whole city can experience together.
ALSO GROWS
samach: to rejoice, to be glad
שָׂמַח
The verb holds the lived expression of the joy named by the noun.
sameach: glad, joyful
שָׂמֵחַ
The adjective describes those experiencing the same rooted gladness.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
to be whole, complete
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The name carries שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) in its dual form: two wholenesses. Here joy appears within a name whose nature holds wholeness, making the citywide gladness an expression of wholeness shared.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: wholeness, completeness
שָׁלוֹם
This is the wholeness carried within the name Jerusalem.
shalem: whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch names the state of being whole that deepens the meaning of Jerusalem’s name.
THE PATTERN
Joy becomes a shared measure of fullness, visible in celebration, gladness, and praise.
And the children of Israel who were found in Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, with instruments of strength to the LORD.The LORD has grown great in doing with us, and we were glad.These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be filled.THE THREAD
And all the assembly of those who had turned back from the captivity made booths and settled in the booths, for the children of Israel had not done so since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun, until that day. And there was very great rejoicing.The Hebrew root שׂמח (samach, to rejoice or be glad) also underlies the “very great gladness” named here. Both verses show communal joy becoming so full that it sets a striking measure for the people sharing it.
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