What Does 2 Kings 23:20 Mean?
And he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there upon the altars, and burned human bones upon them, and turned back to Jerusalem.
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 he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.THE KEY
The verb translated “slew” also means “sacrifice,” making the priests themselves the offering placed on the altars.
THE MEANING
The verse leaves the violence exposed: the priests are slaughtered and men’s bones are burned on their altars; only then comes the return to Jerusalem. The city’s name carries wholeness, yet the sentence leaves the bodies in view rather than letting the return erase them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a return to a sacred center makes the violence along the way disappear: the slain priests and burned bones remain in the sentence.
THE ROOT
וַיִּזְבַּח
vayyizbach
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
to slaughter; to sacrifice
“slaughtered” in this verse is vayyizbach. The verb זבח (zabach, to slaughter or sacrifice) is rendered “slew” here. The same root gives זֶבַח (zevach, sacrifice) and מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach, altar), so the priests’ killing carries the language of sacrificial slaughter as their bones burn on the altars.
ALSO GROWS
zevach: A sacrifice or slaughtered offering.
זֶבַח
This branch reveals the sacrificial shade inside the verb translated “slew.”
mizbeach: An altar, the place of sacrifice.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar’s name comes from the same root as the act of slaughter, binding the priests’ deaths to the place where their bones are burned.
וַיָּשָׁב
vayyashav
GROWS FROM
שוב
sh-w-b
to turn back; to return
“turned back” in this verse is vayyashav. The verb marks a real movement back toward Jerusalem, but it does not say that what came before is repaired. Its root also names turning away, leaving the return beside the slaughter rather than making the violence disappear.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: A return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch makes the movement in “returned” audible as a turn, not simply arrival at a place.
meshuvah: A turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can name a turn away, showing that the verb alone does not declare the return morally or spiritually complete.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
wholeness; completeness
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The name carries the root-family of שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness), placing the return beside the language of wholeness. Yet the verse keeps the slain priests and burned bones in view; the name does not make the violence whole or harmless.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
This branch gives the name’s wholeness-bearing sound its meaning as the destination of the return.
shalem: Whole; complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch sharpens the tension between the name’s wholeness and the violence that still occupies the verse.
THE PATTERN
Altars expose what a community is willing to place beneath sacred purpose.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and look, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and raised him up as a rising offering in place of his son.And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it rise up into my heart.And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the living soul, and with all the strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is more than all the whole-burned offerings and sacrifices.THE THREAD
And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus says the LORD. Look, a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon you he will slaughter the priests of the high places who make the smoke rise upon you, and the bones of men will be burned upon you.The Hebrew verb זבח (zabach, to sacrifice or slaughter) stands behind “offer” here and “slew” in 2 Kings 23:20. The shared root joins the altar’s prophecy to the priests’ bodies and burned bones through the language of sacrifice.
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