What Does 2 Kings 13:1 Mean?
In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.
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
In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years.THE KEY
Jehoahaz’s name means “YHWH has grasped,” so the king who reigns over Israel is named as one already held.
THE MEANING
The verse places a ruler on a throne and gives him a name that says YHWH has grasped. His authority is real, while his name carries a claim deeper than his office. His reign is counted in seventeen years; the name points beyond the tenure.
THE ROOT
יְהוֹאָחָז
Yəhōʾāḥāz
GROWS FROM
אחז
To grasp, seize, or hold.
Jehoahaz joins the divine name element Yeho- to אחז, meaning “to grasp, seize, hold”: his name means “YHWH has grasped.” The line names him as one held even while it identifies him as the one who reigns, keeping authority and dependence together.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāḥaz: Grasped, seized, held.
אָחַז
This verb supplies the action inside Jehoahaz’s name: a ruler is also described as held.
ʾăḥuzzāh: Possession, holding, or estate.
אֲחֻזָּה
This related noun gives the root a sense of what is held or possessed, widening the name’s image from a grasp to an enduring claim.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses names to disclose the character, relationship, or calling carried inside a person’s identity.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And she will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus, the LORD's deliverance, for he will deliver his people from their missing.THE THREAD
Even there your hand leads me, and your right hand grasps me.Jehoahaz carries אחז (ʾāḥaz), “to grasp, hold”; Psalm 139:10 uses the same root for the hand that holds the speaker. The shared word carries the name’s claim from a king’s identity into an intimate image of being held.
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