What Does 2 Chronicles 17:10 Mean in the King James?

And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

2 Chronicles 17:10 · 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 kingdoms stop fighting not because Judah defeats them, but because the LORD’s awe takes hold before battle begins.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks now: the LORD’s awe can settle over the powers around you, so hostility stops short of attack. The danger remains near, but its power to act is restrained by a force beyond your own reach.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that safety must come from meeting surrounding force with greater force; here the kingdoms stop fighting because dread of the LORD overtakes them.

THE ROOT

פַּחַד

paḥad

GROWS FROM

פחד

p-ḥ-d

Dread, terror, or fear that seizes and makes one tremble.

Awe here carries the force of dread, not merely admiration. The same root can name inward trembling and fear spread across a whole realm; here it settles over kingdoms and war stops before battle begins.

ALSO GROWS

paḥad: Dread, terror, fear.

פַּחַד

This noun is the word in the verse: the dread is pictured as covering the surrounding kingdoms, not merely as a private feeling in Judah.

pāḥadtî: I feared; I trembled.

פָּחַדְתִּי

Job 3:25 uses the same root for personal fear, showing how paḥad can describe trembling within one person as well as dread across a public realm.

THE PATTERN

Awe of the LORD can halt hostility and create room for rest.

Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

Exodus 15:16 · KJVThe same paḥad, dread, falls on those surrounding God’s people, and the threat is held still as they pass through.

When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Proverbs 16:7 · KJVEnemies come to peace through the LORD’s action, showing that safety can arrive without retaliatory force.

Then had the churches rest throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

Acts 9:31 · KJVThe churches experience rest while walking in awe of the Lord, linking that awe with communal calm and growth.

THE THREAD

And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.

2 Chronicles 20:29 · KJV

This verse repeats the same word, ⁨פַּחַד⁩ (paḥad, dread), and again places it over surrounding kingdoms. The shared root shows that this fear reaches beyond Judah’s private experience and changes how hostile powers act.

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