What Does 2 Kings 16:6 Mean?
At that time Rezin king of Syria brought back Elath to Syria, and drove the men of Judah out of Elath; and the Syrians came to Elath and settled there to this day.
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
At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.THE KEY
The word “recovered” contains a return, but the verse shows that this return is accomplished by making another people leave.
THE MEANING
A claim of recovery can carry an expulsion inside it: one people receives a place as another is driven from it. The land does not remain empty; new occupants settle there, and the verse keeps that displacement present in the words “unto this day.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a “recovery” is neutral for everyone: a place returned to one side can be a place another side is forced to leave.
THE ROOT
הֵשִׁיב
hēshîv
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Turn back; return.
Here הֵשִׁיב (hēshîv, brought back or restored) carries the root שׁוּב (shuv, turn back or return). Its sense of return sits beside the next action: Judah is driven from Elath as the place is returned to Aram.
ALSO GROWS
shav: He returned or turned back.
שָׁב
The simpler form makes the root’s returning motion visible beneath “recovered.”
teshuvah: Return or turning.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun from the same root shows that a return is a movement back toward a prior place or state.
וַיְנַשֵּׁל
waynashēl
GROWS FROM
נשל
n-sh-l
Strip away, dislodge, or drive out.
“drave” in this verse is waynashēl. The verb carries the force of stripping or dislodging. Elsewhere the same root describes an axe head slipping from its handle, so the expulsion here is a severing from place, not merely a change of ruler.
ALSO GROWS
wenashal: Will drive out or dislodge.
וְנָשַׁל
Deuteronomy 7:22 uses this form for putting nations out of the land, directly echoing the removal in this verse.
wenashal hab-barzel: The iron slipped away.
וְנָשַׁל הַבַּרְזֶל
In Deuteronomy 19:5 the iron axe head slips from its handle; the same root illuminates expulsion as being dislodged.
וַיֵּשְׁבוּ
vayyēshvū
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁב
yashav
Sit, remain, settle, or dwell.
Here וַיֵּשְׁבוּ (vayyēshvū, they settled or dwelt) carries יָשַׁב (yashav, sit, remain, dwell), presenting the newcomers as taking up residence rather than simply passing through. At this clause the Hebrew text reads אֲדֹמִים (ʾadomim, Edomites), where the supplied KJV reads “Syrians”; “unto this day” marks the settlement as continuing.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: Sit or dwell.
יָשַׁב
The root holds physical taking-a-seat and making a home together in one word.
moshav: Dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This related form makes the settled place itself visible in the root’s family.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats dwelling as a contested condition: people may be expelled, become strangers, or receive land as an inheritance.
The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You cannot finish them at once, lest the beasts of the field multiply against you.The aligned will inherit the land and pitch their tent in it for the ages.By trust he dwelt alongside in the land of promise, as in another's land, settling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise.THE THREAD
The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You cannot finish them at once, lest the beasts of the field multiply against you.The verb translated “drave” in 2 Kings comes from נשל (nashal, strip or dislodge), the same root rendered “put out” here. Hearing that shared root sharpens the verse’s plain account of expulsion: control of the land is expressed through people being removed from it.
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