What Does 2 Kings 14:24 Mean?
And he did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, and he did not turn aside from all the shortcomings of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to miss the mark.
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 he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.THE KEY
Jeroboam’s “sins” and his making Israel “sin” share one Hebrew root: what a ruler misses becomes a path the people are led to miss.
THE MEANING
A repeated wrong does not stay within one life when a person in power keeps it moving; it becomes a road a whole people can be led along. What persists in leadership remains in the LORD’s sight, even when it has become familiar.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a normalized pattern has lost its harm dissolves here: repetition by a leader spreads its consequences instead of erasing them.
THE ROOT
חַטֹּאות
ḥaṭṭōʾt
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
To miss or fail to reach.
“shortcomings” in this verse is ḥaṭṭōʾt. The verse uses this root for both Jeroboam’s “sins” and his making Israel “sin.” English separates a condition from its influence; Hebrew links the missing itself to what is reproduced in the people.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: To miss; to sin.
חָטָא
This verb shows the action beneath the noun: sin is a missing, not merely a label.
heḥĕṭîʾ: To cause someone to miss; to lead into sin.
הֶחֱטִיא
This causative form names the spread of the same root from a ruler to Israel.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: Sin; also an offering for the missing.
חַטָּאת
The same root can name both the missing and an offering that addresses it.
THE PATTERN
A leader’s repeated wrong becomes a public path when people are led to repeat it.
And he shall give Israel over because of the shortcomings of Jeroboam, who missed the mark and who caused Israel to miss the mark.And it shall be, like people, like priest. I will visit upon them their ways, and return to them their deeds.Let them go. They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.THE THREAD
And he shall give Israel over because of the shortcomings of Jeroboam, who missed the mark and who caused Israel to miss the mark.The Hebrew repeats the root חטא (ḥ-ṭ-ʾ, to miss) for “sins” and “made Israel to sin.” That same-root link shows a ruler’s missing reproduced in the people, and this verse names the consequence that follows.
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