What Does 2 Chronicles 21:10 Mean in the King James?
So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand; because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers.
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 king’s abandonment at the center is mirrored by the territories breaking out from under his hand.
THE MEANING
Edom breaks away from under Judah’s hand, and Libnah does the same; the text ties both departures to the king’s forsaking the LORD, the God of his fathers. What he leaves at the center is mirrored by what no longer stays beneath his hand. Authority here is a bond, not possession secured by grip alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that I can abandon the source of my authority and still retain an unquestioned grip on everything under me.
THE ROOT
עָזַב
ʿazav
GROWS FROM
עזב
ʿazav
To leave, abandon, or relinquish.
“forsaken” in this verse is ʿazav. The king’s departure from the LORD is named with a root of leaving. The verse sets that abandonment beside Edom’s and Libnah’s breakaways: what is left at the center echoes in what leaves from beneath his hand.
ALSO GROWS
azuv: Forsaken, abandoned.
עָזוּב
This form names the condition of what has been left; here the verse first names the king as the one who leaves.
azuvah: A forsaken or abandoned one.
עֲזוּבָה
The feminine form makes the result of leaving visible as a state of being left; the verse pairs the king’s abandonment with the territories’ departures.
וַיִּפְשַׁע
wayyifshaʿ
GROWS FROM
פשע
pashaʿ
To break away, rebel, or revolt.
“revolted” in this verse is wayyifshaʿ. Both Edom and Libnah are described with this root, each breaking out from under Judah’s hand. The Hebrew repeats one word for both departures, making the rupture a shared movement rather than two unrelated losses.
ALSO GROWS
peshaʿ: Rebellion, breaking away.
פֶּשַׁע
The noun names the rupture itself, giving the territories’ revolt the shape of a broken bond.
posheaʿ: One who rebels.
פֹּשֵׁעַ
This branch names the one who breaks away, placing the focus on the relationship severed from the authority above it.
THE PATTERN
When the bond at the center is abandoned, the bonds held beneath it begin to loosen.
Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak.And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.THE THREAD
And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.The same root, עזב (ʿazav), appears in both verses for forsaking. Here the mirrored action is explicit: the bond abandoned at the center is answered by a bond that no longer holds.
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