What Does 2 Kings 21:10 Mean?
And the LORD spoke by his servants, the prophets, saying,
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 spake by his servants the prophets, saying,THE KEY
The Hebrew root joins “speaking” to “word” and “matter,” while the verse says that word travels by the hand of human servants.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s speech reaches you through people who serve as prophets; the Hebrew phrase behind “by his servants” literally says “by the hand of his servants.” The line pauses at “saying,” naming the speaker while leaving the message just about to arrive.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The LORD’s speech must bypass human beings to remain truly divine.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבֵּר
vayedabber
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; the same root also forms a word for a word, matter, or thing.
“spake” in this verse is vayedabber. The same root gives דָּבָר (davar), “word,” “matter,” or “thing”: Hebrew holds what is said close to the matter itself. The speech here is carried through human hands, not left as a sound detached from human life.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
It binds speech to the matter being spoken, giving “spake” the weight of a declared reality.
devarim: Words or matters
דְּבָרִים
The plural keeps the same link between what is spoken and what is at stake.
עֲבָדָיו
avadav
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
To work or serve.
“his servants” in this verse is avadav. The prophets are named by their service: they carry a message that is not theirs to own. The verse brings speech and service together in a human channel.
ALSO GROWS
eved: Servant
עֶבֶד
It names the messenger by the role through which the message is carried.
avad: Serve or work
עָבַד
It reveals the active service beneath the title “servants.”
THE PATTERN
The LORD makes his message known through human servants who carry it to others.
For the Lord GOD does nothing, unless he uncovers his secret to his servants the prophets.The LORD has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but you have not heard and responded, nor bent your ear to hear.God, who in many portions and in many ways spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets.THE THREAD
I raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and I set my words in his mouth, and he speaks to them all that I command him.The Hebrew root דבר (d-b-r) appears in “my words” and “he shall speak,” the same root as “spake” here. The prophet’s mouth carries the very word the LORD places there.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us