What Does 2 Kings 13:25 Mean?
And Jehoash son of Jehoahaz turned back, and took out of the hand of Benhadad son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Joash struck him, and brought back the cities of Israel.
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 Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.THE KEY
The Hebrew frames recovery as a return: what was taken comes back into place and possession.
THE MEANING
The verse holds loss and recovery together: cities are taken by war, then return after three victories. What is seized is truly lost for a time, yet the loss is not necessarily final. Recovery here is concrete, the return of what was taken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what has been taken is gone forever.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֶׁב
wayyāshev
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
to turn back, return
“brought back” in this verse is wayyāshev. The final verb comes from שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to turn back, return,” the same root heard in the verse’s opening verb for Jehoash’s return. English separates those actions, while Hebrew links them: Jehoash returns, and the cities are made to return. Recovery is presented as restoration of what was taken, not the making of something new.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: turn back; return
שׁוּב
This is the root beneath the verse’s repeated movement of return.
hēshîv: bring back; cause to return; restore
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form makes the final action clear: the cities are brought back into Israel’s possession.
THE PATTERN
Return can reverse a concrete loss by bringing back what was taken.
And David snatched back all that the Amalekites had taken, and David snatched back his two wives.For this son of mine was dead, and is living again; he had lost his way, and is found." And they began to be glad.THE THREAD
For look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, that I will turn back the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land I gave to their fathers, and they shall take hold of it.The Hebrew root שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) appears in both verses’ language of bringing back and returning. Jeremiah makes the same movement explicit: what is brought back returns to its place and can be possessed again.
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