What Does 2 Kings 21:25 Mean?
Now the rest of the words of Amon, which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
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
Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?THE KEY
The Hebrew calls Amon’s acts “words” or “matters,” showing how what he does becomes part of what can be told and preserved.
THE MEANING
This line places Amon’s deeds within a larger written record: only some appear here, while the remaining matters have a place in Judah’s royal annals. The brief account before you points beyond itself to what is preserved elsewhere.
THE ROOT
דִּבְרֵי
divrei
GROWS FROM
דבר
Word, utterance, or matter.
“words” in this verse is divrei. The word rendered “acts” is divrei, from the root davar: word or matter. Hebrew holds deeds and the matters told about them in one word-family, so Amon’s conduct enters the record as something that can be spoken and remembered.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, thing, or matter.
דָּבָר
The same root can name either what is said or what is at issue, bringing events and their telling together.
dibber: Spoke.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch makes the spoken quality audible inside the verse’s “acts”: the record carries matters forward in words.
יֶתֶר
yeter
GROWS FROM
יתר
To remain, be left over, or exceed.
“The rest” names what remains beyond the portion given in this line. Alongside the written record, the word marks the summary as partial: more of Amon’s deeds exists outside the account in front of you.
ALSO GROWS
yoter: More, or beyond.
יוֹתֵר
This branch echoes the verse’s sense that the account extends beyond what is currently named.
yitron: Surplus or advantage.
יִתְרוֹן
The root’s sense of what exceeds helps illuminate the “rest” as an amount left beyond this brief report.
כְּתוּבִים
ketuvim
GROWS FROM
כתב
To write or inscribe.
The deeds are not merely recalled in passing; they are written into a record. The root makes the verse’s movement concrete: what happened becomes an inscription that can outlast the moment of action.
ALSO GROWS
ketav: Writing or script.
כְּתָב
This branch names the written form that makes a record readable beyond the moment it was made.
mikhtav: Letter or written message.
מִכְתָּב
A written message carries words from one moment to another, as the royal record carries these matters forward.
THE PATTERN
A brief account can point to a larger written witness that preserves what happened.
Now the rest of the words of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his strength, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?Then those who stand in awe of the LORD spoke, each one to his neighbor, and the LORD bent his ear and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written before his face for those in awe of the LORD, who reckon his name.And I see the dead, small and great, standing before God. The scrolls are opened, and another scroll is opened, which is the book of life. The dead are judged by the things written in the scrolls, according to their works.THE THREAD
Now the rest of the words of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his strength, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Israel?This verse repeats the same phrase about “the rest of the acts,” using divrei, from דבר, the word-family that can mean words or matters. The repeated wording shows the record’s pattern: a king’s deeds are carried forward as matters that can be told and written.
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