What Does 2 Kings 17:20 Mean?
And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, bent them low, and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had thrown them from his face.
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 LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.THE KEY
The verse’s “delivered” is literally “gave”: the rejected are transferred into the plunderers’ hand before they are cast from sight.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now in the stark sequence of rejection, affliction, and being placed in the hands of those who plunder. Its final image is expulsion from sight, with no softening of the violence in that judgment.
THE ROOT
וַיִּמְאָס
wayyim’as
GROWS FROM
מאס
ma'as
Reject, refuse; regard as unwanted.
“rejected” in this verse is wayyim’as. The root carries rejection as an act of refusal and exclusion. Hosea uses the same root for being “cast away,” joining rejection with expulsion in a way the English wording of this verse does not show by itself.
ALSO GROWS
ma'as: To reject or refuse.
מָאַס
This is the verb behind “rejected,” naming the first movement in the verse.
ma'asu: They rejected or refused.
מָאֲסוּ
Psalm 118:22 uses this form when the builders reject the stone, showing the root’s language of exclusion.
וַיִּתְּנֵם
wayyittenem
GROWS FROM
נתן
natan
Give, set, place.
“gave” in this verse is wayyittenem. The verb rendered “delivered” is built from natan, “give.” The wording presents the people as given into the plunderers’ hand, making the transfer itself part of the verse’s force.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb used here: the people are given into the plunderers’ hand.
mattan: A gift; something given.
מַתָּן
This related noun keeps the basic sense of natan visible: what is handed over is given.
THE PATTERN
Rejection is expressed as a handing over, with those outside protection left exposed to what follows.
I have let go of my house, and I have cast off my heritage. I have placed the beloved of my living soul into the hand of her enemies.My God will cast them off, because they did not hear and respond to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.Therefore God gave them over in the cravings of their hearts into uncleanness, for their bodies to be made weightless among themselves.THE THREAD
My God will cast them off, because they did not hear and respond to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.The Hebrew behind “cast them away” is מאס (ma’as), the same root rendered “rejected” here. The shared word holds rejection and expulsion together: what is refused is also cast out.
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