What Does 2 Kings 16:12 Mean?
And when the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar. He drew near to the altar, and sent up his offerings upon it.
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 when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.THE KEY
The verb rendered “offered” means “to make ascend,” so the altar is where what is given is pictured as rising.
THE MEANING
The sequence stands before you now: the king sees the altar, draws near, and makes an offering rise upon it. The verb rendered “offered” carries the image of ascent, moving from sight to nearness to upward giving. The verse records the rite without calling it faithful or corrupt.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעַל
wayyaʿal
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
Go up, ascend; in a causative form, bring or make something ascend.
“sent up his offerings upon it” in this verse is wayyaʿal. In this form, עלה (ʿālāh, to go up) means to bring something up or make it ascend. The offering carries an upward motion beneath the familiar English verb, joining the altar’s act to ascent.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: An offering that goes up; a burnt offering.
עֹלָה
This noun from the same root makes the upward image explicit in the kind of offering associated with the altar.
ʿaliyyah: A going up or ascent.
עֲלִיָּה
It preserves the root’s basic movement and illuminates the upward direction carried by “offered.”
וַיִּקְרַב
wayyiqrav
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Come near, draw near.
“drew near” in this verse is wayyiqrav. The verb קרב (qārab, to draw near) links the king’s approach to קָרְבָּן (qorbān, offering), a thing brought near or presented. English gives us separate actions, approach and offer, while their shared root lets them read as one movement toward the altar through a gift.
ALSO GROWS
qorbān: An offering or gift brought near.
קָרְבָּן
The shared root links the king drawing near to the offering being brought near at the altar.
qarov: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
This branch keeps the root’s sense of nearness visible in the king’s approach.
הַמִּזְבֵּחַ
hamizbēaḥ
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
Slaughter; sacrifice.
The word מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbēaḥ, altar) is formed from זבח (zāvaḥ, to slaughter or sacrifice), keeping the altar tied to sacrifice within the word itself. The sequence of seeing, approaching, and offering culminates at a place whose name carries the sacrificial act.
ALSO GROWS
zāvaḥ: To slaughter or sacrifice.
זָבַח
This verb names the act from which the word for altar is formed.
zevaḥ: A sacrifice or slaughtered offering.
זֶבַח
This noun keeps the altar’s connection to the act of sacrifice explicit.
THE PATTERN
An offering is pictured as something brought near and then directed upward toward God.
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.And its inward parts and its legs he shall wash in water, and the priest shall send all of it up in smoke upon the altar, a rising offering, an offering of fire, a fragrance that settles to the LORD.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
And he said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go yourself to the land of Moriah, and raise him there as a rising offering upon one of the mountains I will tell you of."Genesis 22:2 uses עלה (ʿālāh, to go up or bring up) in the command rendered “offer.” Its object is Isaac, making the image of ascent starkly bodily rather than abstract.
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