What Does 2 Kings 17:25 Mean?
And so it was, at the beginning of their settling there, that they did not stand in awe of the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which struck down some of them.
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 so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.THE KEY
The absence of awe is not left as an inward attitude: the LORD sends lions into the place they inhabit, and some are killed.
THE MEANING
This verse confronts you now with a severe account of divine action: people dwell without awe of the LORD, and the LORD sends lions among them, killing some. The deaths are part of the sentence’s claim; its account of judgment is bodily and violent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that divine judgment is always inward or symbolic: here, the verse says lions kill people.
THE ROOT
יָרְאוּ
yare'u
GROWS FROM
ירא
yare
To fear, revere, stand in awe.
“did not stand in awe of” in this verse is yare'u. When the LORD is the one feared, this root carries awe: not merely a passing feeling, but recognition of who the LORD is. The verse names the absence of that awe before naming the lions.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: Fear, reverence, awe.
יִרְאָה
This noun shows that the verb belongs to a wider language of awe, making the missing response more than simple alarm.
mora: Fear, dread, terror.
מוֹרָא
This branch holds the root’s fearful edge beside its reverent one, fitting a verse where the encounter becomes terrifying and lethal.
וַיְשַׁלַּח
vayeshalach
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
To send, send forth, release.
“sent” in this verse is vayeshalach. The verb carries the motion of sending forth or releasing into another’s space. Here that movement bears teeth: lions enter the settlement and kill.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away, dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch makes the root’s sense of dispatch visible; in this verse, the LORD sends the lions into the community.
Shiloach: Shiloah, a watercourse whose name means “sent.”
שִׁלֹחַ
The sent waters associated with restoration of sight share this root; here, the thing sent is instead lethal, and the verse does not soften that difference.
THE PATTERN
Scripture portrays divine judgment as a concrete encounter that makes God’s power felt and fearsome.
I will send my terror before you, and I will put to death all the people among whom you come, and I will give all your enemies their backs to you.And great fear came upon the whole assembly, and upon all who heard these things.It is an awe-filled thing to fall into the hands of the living God.THE THREAD
I will send my terror before you, and I will put to death all the people among whom you come, and I will give all your enemies their backs to you.Both verses use שלח (shalach, send or release): one sends lions among the people, while the other sends fear ahead. The shared verb shows the force of divine sending; what enters the scene may be terror or lethal judgment.
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