What Does 2 Kings 17:21 Mean?
For he tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and led them into a great shortcoming.
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
For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.THE KEY
The Hebrew makes the great sin communal by repeating one seed: Jeroboam causes Israel to miss, then names that missing as their shared condition.
THE MEANING
A rupture in authority can reach into what a community follows: Israel is driven away from following the LORD, and the missing becomes shared. The verse places the separation from David’s house beside this deeper displacement, showing how far a break can spread.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that a ruler’s decisions stay at the level of politics; this verse shows power reaching into what a whole people follows and practices.
THE ROOT
וַיַּחֲטִאֵם
vayyaḥaṭiʾēm
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss; go wrong; sin.
“shortcoming” in this verse is vayyaḥaṭiʾēm. The verb is causative: Jeroboam causes the people to miss, and the following noun repeats the same root in a great sin. The shared seed makes the deviation communal, not merely individual.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: To miss; to sin.
חָטָא
This verb shows the movement beneath the familiar word sin: a deviation, a missing.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: Sin; an offering for the missing.
חַטָּאת
The same root can name the missing and an offering associated with it, keeping both within one field of meaning.
ḥōṭēʾ: One who misses or sins.
חֹטֵא
The root can name the person caught in the act, as well as the act itself.
וַיַּדַּח
vayyaddaḥ
GROWS FROM
נדח
Thrust away, drive off, banish.
“drave” in this verse is vayyaddaḥ. The Hebrew phrase מֵאַחֲרֵי יְהוָה (mēʾaḥărê YHWH, from following the LORD) pictures the people as following after him. Jeroboam thrusts them out of that following: this is displacement, not simply a change of preference.
ALSO GROWS
niddāḥ: One driven away; an outcast.
נִדָּח
This branch names the condition of those the verse says are driven from following.
hiddiaḥ: To drive away; lead astray.
הִדִּיחַ
The causative form carries the same force of pushing someone away from a path.
קָרַע
qāraʿ
GROWS FROM
קרע
Tear, split apart, rend.
“tore” in this verse is qāraʿ. Rend names an actual tearing, not a neutral transfer of power. The verse’s first fracture, Israel torn from David’s house, stands beside the later displacement from following the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qeraʿ: A tear or rent.
קֶרַע
The noun names the breach left by the act of tearing.
qəriʿāh: Tearing or rending.
קְרִיעָה
This branch keeps the force of the root visible: the separation is a rupture.
THE PATTERN
When a guide redirects what a community follows, the deviation spreads beyond the guide to the people being led.
And this word became a shortcoming, for the people went to bow down before the one, even to Dan.Let them go. They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.And from among yourselves men will stand up, speaking twisted things, to pull away disciples after them.THE THREAD
And this word became a shortcoming, for the people went to bow down before the one, even to Dan.The same root חטא (ḥṭʾ, miss or sin) names the sin in both verses. This verse makes the collective missing visible as a shared practice: people are directed toward a place of worship shaped by the king.
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