What Does 2 Chronicles 11:16 Mean in the King James?

And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers.

2 Chronicles 11:16 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The heart is first placed toward seeking, and the journey leads toward wholeness.

THE MEANING

This verse holds a living sequence: the heart is placed toward seeking the LORD, the seeker moves toward Jerusalem, and sacrifice gives that approach visible form. In the reader now, inward direction becomes embodied movement toward encounter; Jerusalem’s name carries the language of wholeness.

THE ROOT

נֹתְנִים

notnim

GROWS FROM

נתן

n-t-n

Give, set, place.

The Hebrew translated “set” comes from natan, the root for giving, setting, and placing. Before the feet reach Jerusalem, the heart is already given a direction: seeking begins as a placement of the inner life.

ALSO GROWS

natan: To give, set, or place.

נָתַן

The heart is deliberately placed toward seeking before the people move.

mattanah: Gift.

מַתָּנָה

This branch echoes the act of giving: the verse begins with the heart directed toward the LORD before it describes the sacrifice.

לְבַקֵּשׁ

levakkesh

GROWS FROM

בקש

b-q-sh

Seek, request.

“seek” in this verse is levakkesh. Baqash carries both seeking and requesting, so the movement is a directed appeal rather than aimless searching. The verse binds that appeal to a heart already set toward the LORD, then to actual movement.

ALSO GROWS

baqqashah: A request or petition.

בַּקָּשָׁה

Seeking here carries the sense of an inward appeal, not simply looking around.

mevaqqesh: One who seeks or requests.

מְבַקֵּשׁ

The seekers are defined by their sustained direction toward the LORD.

יְרוּשָׁלַיִם

Yerushalayim

GROWS FROM

שלם

sh-l-m

Whole, complete; the root associated with shalom, wholeness.

“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim carries the sound and sense of shalom, wholeness. The seeking heart moves toward a name shaped by wholeness, so the destination deepens the verse’s movement beyond arrival alone.

ALSO GROWS

shalom: Wholeness, completeness, peace.

שָׁלוֹם

The city’s name carries the destination’s sense of wholeness.

shalem: Whole, complete.

שָׁלֵם

This branch makes the name’s association with wholeness concrete.

THE PATTERN

Seeking God is a directional movement that opens toward finding and nearness.

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29 · KJVThe heart and soul are gathered into seeking, and the movement opens toward finding.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Matthew 7:7 · KJVSeeking is joined to finding, as an inward direction that moves toward an opened way.

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Acts 17:27 · KJVThe search moves toward encounter with a Lord who is already near.

THE THREAD

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29 · KJV

The Hebrew word for “seek” comes from the same root, ⁨בקש⁩ (baqash, seek or request), in both verses, and both place seeking beside the heart. Here the heart is given toward seeking; Deuteronomy makes the other side of that movement visible: finding.

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