What Does 2 Chronicles 21:20 Mean in the King James?
Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
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 grave in the city of the beloved cannot supply the longing that a life leaves behind.
THE MEANING
The verse holds royal rank and burial in David’s city beside departure without being desired. It speaks now wherever outward honor is mistaken for being cherished: a title or memorial does not tell us whether a life is longed for.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having a title and an honored place means one is truly cherished.
THE ROOT
חֶמְדָּה
chemdah
GROWS FROM
חמד
ḥ-m-d
To desire, take pleasure in, or find precious.
“desired” in this verse is chemdah. The king departs without חֶמְדָּה (chemdah, desire or preciousness): the verse describes more than a missing ceremony; it points to a life that leaves no longing behind. The root can name what is desirable and precious, so its absence makes the contrast with royal standing sharp.
ALSO GROWS
neḥmadim: Desirable; to be desired.
נֶחְמָדִים
Psalm 19:10 uses this form for what is more desirable than gold, showing the root can describe something deeply prized.
maḥmadim: Desirable things; precious or lovely ones.
מַחֲמַדִּים
Song of Songs 5:16 uses this form to describe the beloved, connecting desire with cherished affection.
דָּוִד
David
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; beloved one.
The king is buried in the city of David, whose name is linked with דּוֹד (dod, beloved), while he departs without being desired. The place carries the name of the beloved, but cannot make the one buried there beloved.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; also kinsman or loved one.
דּוֹד
This root word gives the name David its association with belovedness, sharpening the contrast in the verse.
dodi: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
This possessive form makes the affection explicit: the root can name someone held dear, a regard absent from the king’s departure.
THE PATTERN
A life’s public standing and the regard it leaves behind are not the same measure.
The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.THE THREAD
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.“More to be desired” translates נֶחְמָדִים (neḥmadim), from חמד (ḥ-m-d), the same root behind חֶמְדָּה (chemdah) in this verse. The root names what is precious enough to long for; here its absence makes the king’s departure an absence of cherishing, not merely of ceremony.
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