What Does 2 Kings 14:11 Mean?
But Amaziah would not hear and respond. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
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 Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah.THE KEY
Amaziah’s refusal to hear turns a disputed word into a face-to-face encounter.
THE MEANING
When you refuse to hear, conflict moves out of speech and into direct encounter. Here, Amaziah’s closed hearing is followed by the kings looking one another in the face; the refusal brings the conflict within reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that refusing to hear keeps conflict away: here, refusal leads directly to confrontation.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shama
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
Hear, attend to, and respond.
“would not hear and respond” in this verse is shama. The word Amaziah refuses carries the sense of hearing that answers, not sound merely received. The verse’s turn from refusal to confrontation shows that closing the ear does not resolve what is being said; it changes where the conflict meets you.
ALSO GROWS
shama: Hear, listen, heed.
שָׁמַע
This is the verb describing what Amaziah refuses; its full range includes attending to what is heard.
shemuah: Report, tidings, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root names what reaches someone as a report; this verse turns on a message that does not get received.
וַיִּתְרָאוּ
vayyitra'u
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra'ah
See, perceive, appear.
“looked” in this verse is vayyitra'u. After Amaziah will not hear, the kings see one another: the verse shifts from rejected words to direct sight. The English can make this sound like a neutral meeting, while the Hebrew places reciprocal seeing at the point where the conflict becomes face to face.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: See, perceive.
רָאָה
This is the root behind the verb translated “looked”; the meeting is described through each king seeing the other.
mar'eh: Appearance, vision, what is seen.
מַרְאֶה
This branch keeps the focus on what comes into view; after hearing is refused, the opposing king is directly before Amaziah.
THE PATTERN
When hearing closes, conflict hardens; attentive response can turn it away from confrontation.
And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should hear and respond to his voice to let Israel go? I have never known the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.A soft answer turns away the burning, but words of pain stir up the nostrils.Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to swell.THE THREAD
And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should hear and respond to his voice to let Israel go? I have never known the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.“Obey his voice” uses שָׁמַע (shama, hear and respond), the same root as Amaziah’s refusal to hear. Pharaoh’s words expose what is at stake in that refusal: whether the heard word is answered with release or with continued resistance.
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