What Does 2 Chronicles 11:4 Mean in the King James?
Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.
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
Hebrew uses davar for both the LORD’s “words” and “this thing,” so the command to stop fighting interprets the rupture itself.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s word names the rupture as something that comes from him, while forbidding the attack against kin. The command takes concrete shape: each person returns home, and the advance against Jeroboam stops. The verse speaks into the reader’s present moment as a boundary between recognizing a painful event and turning it into violence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the lie that if a conflict is within God’s action, force must be the faithful response: the LORD names the event as his and still commands the fighters to turn back.
THE ROOT
הַדָּבָר
hadavar
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speech; as the noun davar, a word, matter, or event.
“thing / words” in this verse is hadavar. The verse uses the same word family for the LORD’s “words” and for “this thing.” English separates speech from event, while Hebrew lets the spoken word name the event: the command to stop is bound to the claim that this rupture comes from the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
divrei: words, utterances
דִּבְרֵי
This is the form in “the words of the LORD,” which the fighters hear.
hadavar: the matter, event, or thing
הַדָּבָר
This is the same noun in “this thing is done of me,” linking the LORD’s word with the event itself.
וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ
wayyishme’u
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen; in responsive use, hear and respond.
The Hebrew says “they heard” where the KJV says “they obeyed.” Responsive hearing already contains the action: the people hear the word and turn away from the attack.
ALSO GROWS
shema: hear and respond
שְׁמַע
The familiar command begins with this same root, joining hearing with the response it calls forth.
shemu’ah: report, tidings, something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch keeps the root’s sense of receiving what is heard, close to the people receiving the LORD’s words.
שׁוּבוּ
shuvu
GROWS FROM
שוב
Turn back, return.
The command שׁוּבוּ and the report וַיָּשֻׁבוּ are forms of one root: the army literally turns back from its course. In Psalm 23:3, the same root means “restoreth,” letting return also carry the sense of being brought back.
ALSO GROWS
wayyashuvu: and they returned, they turned back
וַיָּשֻׁבוּ
The verse repeats the root in its report of what the people actually do.
yeshovev: restoreth, brings back (Psalm 23:3)
יְשׁוֹבֵב
This form shows the same root can describe being brought back toward wholeness.
THE PATTERN
A spoken boundary can interrupt the move from strife to violence.
And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.THE THREAD
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.“The word” here is the same Hebrew noun, davar, that names both the LORD’s utterance and “this thing” in 2 Chronicles. Deuteronomy places that word near enough to be done; 2 Chronicles shows it heard and enacted as the fighters turn back.
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