What Does 2 Chronicles 23:13 Mean in the King James?
And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason.
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
Athaliah hears the people’s joyful allegiance to the king as conspiracy, and the Hebrew word for her charge carries the image of people bound together.
THE MEANING
A public gathering does not carry one meaning to everyone watching: the people sound joy and praise, while Athaliah names their acclaim as conspiracy. Her cry reveals how threatened authority can hear collective allegiance as a plot against its rule.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a ruler’s accusation proves a people’s shared allegiance is treason. The scene presents the accusation as a claim, not its own proof.
THE ROOT
קֶשֶׁר
qesher
GROWS FROM
קשר
q-sh-r
To bind or tie together.
The word repeated as “Treason, treason” is qesher, a conspiracy or binding alliance. The root makes Athaliah’s charge picture the people as bound together against her, even as the scene shows them publicly rejoicing over the king.
ALSO GROWS
qashar: To bind or tie; also, to conspire.
קָשַׁר
This verb reveals the binding image within Athaliah’s charge.
qesher: A conspiracy or alliance.
קֶשֶׁר
This noun is the word Athaliah repeats for the people’s gathering and allegiance.
עֹמֵד
ʿomed
GROWS FROM
עמד
ʿ-m-d
To stand, remain, or take one’s stand.
“Stood / pillar” in this verse is ʿomed. English divides the king’s posture from the pillar, but both עֹמֵד (ʿomed, standing) and עַמּוּד (ʿammud, pillar) grow from עמד (ʿ-m-d, stand). The verse joins the king’s act of standing to the structure that stands beneath him.
ALSO GROWS
ʿamad: To stand or remain.
עָמַד
This is the verb-root behind the king’s visible stance.
ʿammud: A pillar or column.
עַמּוּד
The pillar shares the root of “stood,” linking the king’s posture with his support.
THE PATTERN
Public recognition of a king becomes visible through the people’s shared voice, turning allegiance into a sound heard by all.
And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king.Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.THE THREAD
And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom.The same Hebrew noun, קֶשֶׁר (qesher, conspiracy or binding alliance), names Absalom’s plot here and Athaliah’s charge in the current verse. Its root carries the image of people bound together, making her accusation name the crowd’s unity as a threat to her rule.
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