What Does 2 Chronicles 25:16 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said unto him, Art thou made of the king’s counsel? forbear; why shouldest thou be smitten? Then the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.
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 same Hebrew root lies behind “counselor,” “counsel,” and “determined”: the counsel the king rejects is tied to the outcome the prophet declares.
THE MEANING
The verse puts refusal and consequence together: dismissing a warning does not erase what it names. The threat is blunt, God has determined destruction because of the king’s act and his refusal to hear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that ignoring a warning makes its consequence disappear; here, refusal leaves the announced destruction in force.
THE ROOT
יָעַץ
ya'ats
GROWS FROM
יעץ
To advise, counsel, deliberate, or form a purpose.
The king questions whether the prophet is a royal counselor, and the prophet answers with this same root for what God has “determined.” English separates the rejected counsel from the declared purpose; Hebrew draws them from one seed.
ALSO GROWS
counselor: יוֹעֵץ (yo’ets): one who gives counsel.
The king uses this word to dismiss the prophet’s standing, bringing the root into the exchange from its opening challenge.
counsel: עֵצָה (ʿetsah): counsel, advice, or a plan.
The prophet says the king did not heed “my counsel”; the word belongs to the same root as “determined.”
determined: יָעַץ (ya’ats): counseled, deliberated, or formed a purpose.
This is the Hebrew verb behind God’s declared intention, binding counsel to the outcome named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Refusing counsel does not erase its warning; it leaves the hearer exposed to the consequence the warning names.
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:THE THREAD
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:Isaiah’s “my counsel” (עֵצָה, ʿetsah) shares the י־ע־ץ root behind “determined” here. The king rejects the prophet’s counsel, while Isaiah says God’s counsel stands; the shared root links refusal to a purpose that remains.
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