What Does 2 Chronicles 31:1 Mean?
Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the standing stones into pieces, and cut down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had devoted them all to destruction. Then all the children of Israel returned, each man to what he holds, into their own cities.
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
Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.THE KEY
The dismantling ends with each person returning to his own possession, so removal leads back to belonging.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you now through a sequence: images are broken, groves cut down, and high places and altars thrown down across Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Then the people return, each to his possession and city; the passage holds destruction and return together, ending in concrete belonging.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that tearing down what has taken the center leaves only emptiness: the verse ends with each person back in his own possession and city.
THE ROOT
אֲחֻזָּתוֹ
ʾăḥuzzātô
GROWS FROM
אחז
to grasp, take hold, possess
“what he holds” in this verse is ʾăḥuzzātô. The word translated “possession” carries the sense of a holding, something grasped or held. After the altars and high places are pulled down, each person returns to his own holding: the ending is not vacancy but a return to what belongs to him.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāḥaz: to take hold, seize, possess
אָחַז
This verb exposes the action beneath “possession”: something held or taken hold of.
ʾăḥuzzāh: holding, possession, landholding
אֲחֻזָּה
This is the noun form behind “his possession,” making the return a return to each person’s own holding.
וַיָּשׁוּבוּ
wayyāshūvū
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
to turn back, return
English “returned” can sound like travel alone, while שׁוּב (shuv, turn back or return) holds the turning itself. Here, after the structures are toppled, the turn carries the people back to their cities and holdings.
ALSO GROWS
tĕshūvāh: return, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch makes the turning in “returned” visible: the movement bends back toward a place or relation.
mĕshūvāh: turning away, backsliding
מְשׁוּבָה
The root can name a turn in different directions; here, the people turn back toward their own cities and holdings.
THE PATTERN
Removing what occupies a rival place makes return to rightful belonging possible.
Now therefore turn aside the foreign gods that are among you, and bend your heart toward the LORD, God of Israel.Moreover, the ones who speak out of the ground, and the ones who know, and the household images, and the idols, and all the loathsome things seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah burned away, so that he might do the words of the instruction written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.Many of those who had practiced the meddling arts also brought their scrolls together and burned them before all people; and they counted the price, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.THE THREAD
And you shall turn back to the LORD your God, and you shall hear and respond to his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your living soul.Both verses use שׁוּב (shuv, to turn back or return). Deuteronomy names return to the LORD; this verse shows return taking concrete shape as people go back to their own cities and holdings.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us