What Does 2 Chronicles 18:14 Mean in the King James?
And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand.
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
Micaiah (מִיכָיְהוּ, Mîḵāyəhû, “Who is like YHWH?”) puts the promised victory beneath the deeper question of whose voice carries truth.
THE MEANING
When you long for a clear yes, confident words can send you forward with the promise that the outcome is already in your hand. The next line shows the king asking for truth after hearing this answer; the same gap opens whenever certainty merely echoes what you want. The verse speaks now as a test of confidence: words of success do not certify their source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a confident promise of the outcome you want proves that its speaker tells the truth.
THE ROOT
וְהַצְלִיחוּ
wəhaṣlîḥû
GROWS FROM
צלח
ṣ-l-ḥ
To advance or succeed; in some forms, to rush upon or come mightily over.
This root holds forward success alongside a force that comes upon someone: it names movement, not proof that the direction is true. Here, the command to advance and prosper sounds certain, but the root cannot certify the voice behind it.
ALSO GROWS
yaṣlîaḥ: Makes prosper or succeed (Genesis 39:3).
יַצְלִיחַ
The same root describes success alongside the LORD’s presence, showing that the success-word has a source and setting.
wattiṣlaḥ: Came mightily upon (Judges 14:6, of the LORD’s Spirit).
וַתִּצְלַח
The root also depicts forceful movement coming upon a person, a shade of motion that English “prosper” does not show.
וְיִנָּתְנוּ
wəyinnātenû
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“delivered” in this verse is wəyinnātenû. The Hebrew says the people will be “given” into the king’s hand. The passive form leaves the giver unnamed, so the promised possession is grammatically something received, not something the king already controls.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the root verb beneath “they shall be delivered”: the promise is phrased as a giving.
mattānāh: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
The same root names a gift, bringing out the receiving hidden inside the promise of possession.
THE PATTERN
A desired outcome can be voiced as confident counsel, making a pleasing answer sound like truth.
And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the LORD?A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.THE THREAD
And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.The verb translated “prosper” comes from the same root, צלח (ṣ-l-ḥ), meaning “advance” or “succeed.” Here, success is linked with the LORD’s presence; in the current verse, the same success-word appears in an answer immediately followed by a demand for truth. The shared root shows that a word of success alone cannot prove the promise behind it.
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