What Does 2 Chronicles 23:16 Mean in the King James?
And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD’s people.
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 Hebrew verb behind “made” means “cut,” and the king stands inside the same marked belonging to the LORD as the people.
THE MEANING
Jehoiada, the people, and the king are joined in one covenant identity as the LORD’s people. The reader meets a belonging that includes public power: the ruler stands inside the bond with everyone else.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The ruler stands beyond the allegiance binding the people; this verse places him inside the same bond.
THE ROOT
וַיִּכְרֹת
wayyikhrōt
GROWS FROM
כרת
cut, cut off, sever
“made” in this verse is wayyikhrōt. The Hebrew says Jehoiada “cut” a covenant, giving the bond a marked edge and weight. The verse’s covenant language binds the king and the people in a shared belonging to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
karat berit: cut a covenant; karat means “cut,” and berit means “covenant”
כָּרַת בְּרִית
This is the Hebrew expression beneath “made a covenant” here; its verb presents the bond as a decisive, marked commitment.
keritut: divorce, or a certificate of divorce
כְּרִיתוּת
This branch carries the root’s severing sense, making the covenant’s marked bond of belonging more visible.
הַמֶּלֶךְ
hammelekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
reign, rule
King, reign, and kingship grow from the same three consonants. By including the king in the covenant, the verse places royal authority inside the shared allegiance to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
malakh: to reign, to rule
מָלַךְ
The king’s role is bound to the covenant rather than standing outside it.
malkhut: kingship, kingdom
מַלְכוּת
The root links the king in this verse to the authority he carries, which is included in the covenant bond.
יְהוֹיָדָע
Yehoyada
GROWS FROM
ידע
know, perceive through encounter
Jehoiada joins יהוה (YHWH, the LORD) with יָדַע (yada, to know or perceive): “the LORD knows.” The name gives the covenant-maker a nature tied to knowing, while the covenant makes belonging public.
ALSO GROWS
yada: know, perceive through encounter
יָדַע
This root gives the name Jehoiada its knowing element.
daʿat: knowledge, understanding
דַּעַת
This noun shares the knowing root and echoes the relational knowledge carried in Jehoiada’s name.
THE PATTERN
Covenant gathers people across ranks into one shared belonging to God.
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:Genesis uses the same כרת (karat, “cut”) verb rendered “made” here, linking the two covenants through the act of cutting. There the bond reaches Abram and his seed; here the king and the whole people enter one shared belonging to the LORD.
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