What Does 2 Chronicles 33:10 Mean?
And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not give ear.
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 the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.THE KEY
The LORD’s word reaches them, but being addressed is not the same as attending: they refuse to listen.
THE MEANING
A voice can be present while the heart stays closed to it. This verse names a gap that still exists now: hearing words does not automatically mean receiving them; attention can be withheld.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing a message means you have truly listened.
THE ROOT
הִקְשִׁיבוּ
hiqshivu
GROWS FROM
קשב
Attend closely; listen with focused attention.
“give ear” in this verse is hiqshivu. The Hebrew carries the sense of attending, not merely having sound reach the ear. The verse describes a refusal to give attention to the words spoken.
ALSO GROWS
hiqshiv: Attend or listen closely.
הִקְשִׁיב
The verb names the focused attention withheld here.
maqshiv: One who listens attentively.
מַקְשִׁיב
This related form makes listening an orientation of attention, not just exposure to words.
מְנַשֶּׁה
Mᵊnaššeh
GROWS FROM
נשה
Forget; cause to forget.
Manasseh’s name echoes the language of forgetting: Joseph says, “God hath made me forget” when explaining it in Genesis 41:51. Here, the one whose name carries that echo is directly addressed, while the people refuse to attend.
ALSO GROWS
nashani: He has made me forget.
נַשָּׁנִי
This is Joseph’s wording in Genesis 41:51, the verse that explains the name Manasseh.
Mᵊnaššeh: Manasseh; a name associated with causing forgetfulness.
מְנַשֶּׁה
The name brings the forgetting root into the verse’s scene of speech met with refusal to listen.
וַיְדַבֵּר
vayedabber
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak; word, matter, or thing.
“spake” in this verse is vayedabber. The same root appears as the verb “spoke” and as דָּבָר (davar), “word” or “matter.” The verse holds speech and its content together, then sets that spoken word against the people’s refusal to attend.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The noun shows the root’s reach from speaking to the word or matter spoken.
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This verb form shares the root of davar and names the LORD’s speech in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A message can be spoken clearly and still go unreceived when its hearers refuse to attend.
And now, because you have done all these works, says the LORD, and I spoke to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not hear and respond; and I called you, but you did not answer.But they refused to bend the ear, and turned a shoulder aside, and made their ears heavy so they would not hear and respond.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
LORD, you have heard and responded to the craving of the bowed ones; you will make their heart firm, and you will bend your ear.The Hebrew verb translated “cause thine ear to hear” comes from the same root, קשב (qashav), as “hearken” here. In Chronicles, the people refuse to attend to the LORD; in this psalm, the LORD attends to the humble.
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