What Does 2 Chronicles 13:16 Mean in the King James?

And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand.

2 Chronicles 13:16 · 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.

THE KEY

The Hebrew says God gave the fleeing into Judah’s hand, and Judah’s name itself carries the meaning of praise.

THE MEANING

Now the verse holds defeat in the open: Israel flees before Judah, and God gives the fleeing into Judah’s hand. Judah bears a name linked to praise; the sentence locates the outcome in God’s giving.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that getting away guarantees safety collapses here: Israel flees, yet ends in Judah’s hand.

THE ROOT

וַיִּתְּנֵם

wayyittenem

GROWS FROM

נתן

give, set, place

“Delivered” here has the concrete shape of giving: God places the fleeing people into another’s hand. The root ties that transfer to the same seed behind gifts and things set in place.

ALSO GROWS

mattanah: gift, something given

מַתָּנָה

This noun carries the same act of giving, making the verse’s handoff visible as a transfer from giver to receiver.

natun: given, assigned

נָתוּן

This form keeps the receiver’s changed position in view: the people are given into Judah’s hand.

וַיִּנָּסוּ

wayyinnasu

GROWS FROM

נוס

flee, escape

“fled” in this verse is wayyinnasu. The root holds both flight and the hope of escape. Here that movement away does not reach safety; the following clause shows the fleeing people handed over.

ALSO GROWS

manos: refuge, place of escape

מָנוֹס

This branch names the shelter flight seeks, sharpening the gap between running away and actually reaching safety.

menusah: flight, rout

מְנוּסָה

This noun names the act of fleeing itself, the same movement that the verse follows to its consequence.

יְהוּדָה

Yehudah

GROWS FROM

ידה

praise, give thanks

Judah’s name carries the meaning of praise through its connection to the root for giving thanks. The verse places Israel’s flight before this name, while naming God’s giving as the cause of the outcome.

ALSO GROWS

yadah: praise, give thanks

יָדָה

This is the root behind Judah’s name, bringing the meaning of praise into the verse’s name.

todah: thanksgiving, praise

תּוֹדָה

This related word makes the praise connection tangible in the language of thanksgiving.

THE PATTERN

When scripture says God gives or hands someone over, it presents defeat or exposure as a transfer into another’s power.

And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.

Deuteronomy 2:33 · KJVThe same Hebrew root for giving places Sihon before Israel, and the verse states plainly the violence that follows.

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

Romans 1:24 · KJVA Greek hand-over verb carries the same transfer pattern, here into uncleanness rather than into a human hand.

THE THREAD

And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.

Deuteronomy 2:33 · KJV

The same Hebrew root ⁨נתן⁩ (natan, give) appears in both passages: God gives a defeated people into another’s power. Deuteronomy states the violence that follows outright, leaving the consequence of that handoff fully visible.

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