What Does 2 Chronicles 20:4 Mean in the King James?

And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

2 Chronicles 20:4 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

In Hebrew, asking the LORD for help and seeking the LORD are one act, expressed by the same verb.

THE MEANING

When need gathers people, their request for help and their search for the LORD meet in one shared turning toward God. The verse speaks to need without separating what is asked for from the One being sought.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It loosens the belief that prayer is only a request for an outcome: here, asking for help is also seeking the One asked.

THE ROOT

לְבַקֵּשׁ

ləvaqqēš

GROWS FROM

בקש

to seek or request

“ask help / seek” in this verse is ləvaqqēš. The Hebrew uses the same verb both for asking help of the LORD and for seeking the LORD. English can make these sound like separate actions; the repeated root holds the request and the search together.

ALSO GROWS

biqqēsh: he sought; he requested

בִּקֵּשׁ

This verb form carries both senses together, as in the verse’s movement from asking help to seeking the LORD.

mevaqqēsh: one who seeks; a seeker

מְבַקֵּשׁ

The same root can describe the person seeking, linking the request to an ongoing orientation toward the one sought.

THE PATTERN

Shared need gathers people into a shared turning toward God.

O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 34:3 · KJVThe invitation makes seeking and honoring God a shared act: “with me” and “together.”

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

Joel 2:15 · KJVA public summons brings people together for a common turning toward God.

And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

Acts 4:24 · KJVThe people answer together, directing their voice to God in one accord.

THE THREAD

Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.

Psalm 105:4 · KJV

The repeated “seek” in this verse comes from the same Hebrew root, ⁨בקשׁ⁩, that joins asking for help with seeking the LORD in 2 Chronicles 20:4. Here, seeking reaches toward the LORD’s strength and face, opening what that shared act contains.

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