What Does 2 Kings 15:15 Mean?
And the rest of the words of Shallum, and the binding together that he made, look, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings 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 the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.THE KEY
A conspiracy is a binding together, and the record keeps that bond beside Shallum’s other acts.
THE MEANING
This verse keeps Shallum’s recorded deeds beside his conspiracy, placing the way he acts and the way he binds a plot within one account. The word behind “conspiracy” carries the sense of binding together, so the scheme is not a detached moment: it is a bond among people. The record keeps the plot visible alongside the reign it accompanies.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A ruler’s public acts can be treated as separate from the plot behind them; this verse keeps both in the same record.
THE ROOT
קֶשֶׁר
qesher
GROWS FROM
קשר
q-sh-r
To bind, tie together, or join.
“binding together” in this verse is qesher. The Hebrew word translated “conspiracy” grows from the verb for binding. The word makes a plot more than a secret plan: it is people joined to one another in a shared act.
ALSO GROWS
qashar: To bind or tie.
קָשַׁר
This verb is the root’s action: people become bound together, the image carried by the noun “conspiracy.”
qesher: A conspiracy, treason, or joined plot.
קֶשֶׁר
This noun names the bond itself, revealing the collective tie inside what English can make sound like a single deed.
שַׁלּוּם
Shallum
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be complete or whole; in related forms, to make good or repay.
Shallum’s name is formed from the root שׁלם, whose range holds both wholeness and recompense. That root sits beside the verse’s account of a binding plot, adding another layer to the name without turning it into a verdict on him.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being, peace.
שָׁלוֹם
This familiar branch shows the root’s sense of completeness, which is also carried in Shallum’s name.
shillem: To repay or recompense.
שִׁלֵּם
This related verb shows the root’s sense of making good or settling, another shade present in the name’s root.
THE PATTERN
A conspiracy is a binding: Scripture names the people joined in a plot and keeps that bond in the record of power.
And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he slaughtered sacrifices. And the bond took hold, for the people kept walking and growing with Absalom.Now the rest of the words of Zimri, and the bond he bound together, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?When day came, certain of the Jews twisted themselves together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had lifted Paul out of the way.THE THREAD
And Shallum son of Jabesh bound together against him, and struck him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his place.The verb translated “conspired” (קָשַׁר, qashar) is the verbal root behind qesher, “conspiracy,” in this verse. Read together, one verse names the binding act and the other shows its result: Shallum kills the king and reigns in his stead, then the record keeps that conspiracy beside his acts.
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