What Does 2 Chronicles 32:25 Mean?
But Hezekiah did not return the benefit done to him, for his heart rose high, and the wrath broke upon him, and upon Judah and 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
But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.THE KEY
Hezekiah, חִזְקִיָּהוּ (Ḥizqiyyahu, “Yah strengthens”), does not return what he receives, and the consequence reaches יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim, “the two wholenesses”): one heart’s rise becomes a public fracture.
THE MEANING
This is alive wherever someone receives a benefit yet the heart rises so that no corresponding return comes back. The verse names the consequence as wrath, and its reach moves from one person to Judah and Jerusalem. What happens within the heart does not remain there.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an inward elevation is private: here, the consequence rests on Hezekiah and reaches Judah and Jerusalem.
THE ROOT
הֵשִׁיב
heishiv
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
To turn or return.
“did not return” in this verse is heishiv. The verb beneath “rendered ... again” belongs to the return family, so the verse says more than that Hezekiah failed to repay: he did not send back what came to him. This root can describe both returning and turning away, making the failure a break in direction.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, a turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
The return in the root makes the missing response more concrete: what was received does not come back.
meshubah: Turning away, or turning back from the way.
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root family can name a turning away, revealing the directional break beneath the English phrasing.
גְּמוּל
gemul
GROWS FROM
גמל
To deal with or requite; a dealing or recompense received.
“Benefit” can sound like a general favor, while גְּמוּל (gemul) belongs to the language of dealings and requital. The verse links what was done for Hezekiah to the return that does not come back from him.
ALSO GROWS
gamal: To deal with, requite, or repay.
גָּמַל
This verb form appears in Psalm 103:10 for how God deals with people, opening a direct root connection to this verse.
gemul: A recompense, benefit, or dealing received.
גְּמוּל
As a noun, it names what has been done for someone and makes the absent return in this verse visible.
חִזְקִיָּהוּ
Ḥizqiyyahu
GROWS FROM
חזק
To be strong or to strengthen.
“Hezekiah” in this verse is Ḥizqiyyahu. His name combines חָזַק (chazaq, “be strong” or “strengthen”) with יָהוּ (Yahu, a form of the divine name), yielding “Yah strengthens.” Beside the raised heart and the benefit left unreturned, the name keeps received strength in the frame of the verse.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: To be strong, grow firm, or prevail.
חָזַק
The name’s root holds strength as part of Hezekiah’s nature.
chizzeq: To strengthen or make firm.
חִזֵּק
This active form makes the name’s strength more than a fixed trait: it can be strength given or made firm.
THE PATTERN
What is lifted in self-exaltation is brought down, and its consequences can reach beyond the self.
Yet Hezekiah bent low for the height of his heart, he and those who settle in Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.Swelling goes before breaking, and a breath lifted high goes before a stumbling.I tell you, this man went down to his house aligned, rather than the other, for everyone who lifts himself up will be brought low, and the one who lowers himself will be lifted up.THE THREAD
He does not deal with us according to our shortcomings, nor repay us according to our crookedness.The word translated “rewarded,” גָּמַל (gamal, “deal with or requite”), comes from the same root as the “benefit” in Hezekiah’s verse. Here Hezekiah fails to return what was done for him; the Psalm uses that same root for God not requiting people in proportion to their crookedness.
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