What Does 2 Kings 22:5 Mean?
And let them give it into the hand of the doers of the work who are set over the house of the LORD, and let them place it with the doers of the work who are in the house of the LORD, to strengthen the broken places of the house,
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 let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,THE KEY
Repair is a chain of trust: resources pass through oversight and reach the hands that strengthen what has cracked.
THE MEANING
The house of the LORD is cared for through an ordered passage: what is entrusted to its overseers is placed with the workers. Their task is concrete, to strengthen the house where it is damaged. Sacred care reaches the structure itself, through accountable hands and practical work.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that reverence for the LORD’s house needs no material care: here, repair requires resources, oversight, and skilled work.
THE ROOT
לְחַזֵּק
leḥazzēq
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥ-z-q
To be strong or become firm; in this form, to strengthen or make firm.
“strengthen” in this verse is leḥazzēq. The word rendered “repair” carries the sense of strengthening. The breach is not only covered over; the vulnerable place is made firm, so repair means restoring strength where it has given way.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: Be strong; become firm.
חָזַק
This is the root’s basic movement: the house’s repair is about becoming firm.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen; reinforce.
חִזֵּק
This form makes the strengthening active: the workers bring strength to the damaged structure.
הַמֻּפְקָדִים
hamufqadim
GROWS FROM
פקד
p-q-d
To attend to, appoint, muster, or take account of; here, to be appointed or charged with responsibility.
“who are set over” in this verse is hamufqadim. The overseers are not merely watching from a distance; the word presents them as people charged with attending to the house. Their role is part of the repair itself: entrusted responsibility guides resources toward the work.
ALSO GROWS
pāqad: Attend to; appoint; take account of.
פָּקַד
This root holds together assignment and attention: oversight means being charged to attend to the house.
peqūddāh: Charge; appointment; oversight.
פְּקֻדָּה
This related noun expresses the entrusted responsibility through which the repair work is directed.
THE PATTERN
What is damaged is strengthened through entrusted work that reaches the place of need.
So the makers of the work made, and the work went up by their hands, and they stood the house of God on its footing, and strengthened it.So we built the wall, and all the wall was tied together to half of it, for the people had heart to work.For we are fellow workers with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.THE THREAD
So the makers of the work made, and the work went up by their hands, and they stood the house of God on its footing, and strengthened it.The same Hebrew root חזק (ḥ-z-q), meaning “be strong” or “strengthen,” appears in both verses. Here the work is directed toward strengthening the house; the connected verse makes the result visible as the house is strengthened.
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