What Does 2 Chronicles 13:4 Mean in the King James?

And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

2 Chronicles 13:4 · 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

A dispute between rulers becomes a summons to the whole people: all Israel is called to hear.

THE MEANING

A voice takes its stand amid division and addresses both a rival ruler and an entire people. The call to hear makes each person part of what is being said, before anyone responds to it.

THE ROOT

שָׁמַע

shamaʿ

GROWS FROM

שמע

Hear, listen, attend; hearing can carry the sense of receiving and responding.

The Hebrew call here is plural: Abijah addresses Jeroboam and all Israel together. The root ⁨שמע⁩ (shamaʿ, hear and respond) makes the moment larger than sound reaching an ear: the whole people is summoned into receiving the claim.

ALSO GROWS

shemuah: A report or tidings; something heard.

שְׁמוּעָה

The root can name both hearing and what is heard, linking the people’s reception to the message they are being asked to take in.

shomea: One who hears; a hearer.

שֹׁמֵעַ

The call places the whole audience in the role of hearers, making their attention part of the scene.

THE PATTERN

A call to hear places its audience inside the word being spoken and calls for a response.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 6:4 · KJVIsrael is called to hear a declaration that addresses the whole people.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Isaiah 1:2 · KJVThe call to hear widens the audience to the heavens and earth as the words are spoken.

And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 4:9 · KJVHearing is presented as an active reception of what is being said.

THE THREAD

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Deuteronomy 6:4 · KJV

Both verses begin with ⁨שמע⁩ (shamaʿ, hear and respond) and address Israel. Here the summons reaches Jeroboam and all Israel; in Deuteronomy, it opens with Israel as the hearer of a declaration about the LORD.

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