What Does 2 Chronicles 10:15 Mean in the King James?
So the king hearkened not unto the people: for the cause was of God, that the LORD might perform his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
What the verse calls a “cause” also carries the sense of a turn: the king’s refusal becomes part of the turn through which the spoken word stands.
THE MEANING
When a voice is refused, the refusal does not erase what has been spoken; it can become the turn through which that word takes shape. God’s purpose remains in view, while the refusal itself stays visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that one person’s refusal to listen makes a spoken purpose impossible.
THE ROOT
נְסִבָּה
nesibbah
GROWS FROM
סבב
sabab
To turn around, go around, or encircle.
Alongside the sense of an occasion or cause, nesibbah carries the shape of a turn. The verse places the king’s refusal inside that turn, where the spoken word can still come to stand.
ALSO GROWS
sabab: Turn, go around.
סָבַב
This verb gives the motion inside nesibbah: events circle into a turn.
saviv: Around, surrounding.
סָבִיב
The same root’s sense of “around” gives the cause the shape of a surrounding turn of events.
לְהָקִים
lehaqim
GROWS FROM
קום
qum
To rise or stand; in a causative form, to make stand or establish.
Lehaqim pictures the spoken word being brought into standing. The verse’s “perform” links what is spoken with what takes shape.
ALSO GROWS
qum: Rise, stand.
קוּם
The root’s basic image is standing, which gives “perform” the sense of bringing the word into a standing reality.
maqom: Place, position.
מָקוֹם
This related word for a place suggests what is established comes to occupy a place in what unfolds.
שָׁמַע
shamaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, and respond.
The root holds hearing together with heeding or answering, so “hearkened not” carries a failure of response, not only an absence of sound. Beside the spoken word that still stands, the verse reveals the gap between a closed human response and a purpose that continues.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; respond.
שְׁמַע
The imperative carries hearing toward a response, making the king’s refusal more than simply not receiving sound.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings.
שְׁמוּעָה
This noun names what is heard and received, extending the root from listening into the message carried.
THE PATTERN
A spoken purpose can take shape through events that appear to oppose it.
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.THE THREAD
There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.“Shall stand” translates תָּקוּם (taqum), from קום (qum), the same root behind “perform” in this verse. Here the word is brought to stand through a turn of events; Proverbs names the durability of the LORD’s counsel.
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