What Does 2 Chronicles 25:17 Mean in the King James?
Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face.
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
Counsel turns into confrontation when Amaziah sends for a face-to-face meeting.
THE MEANING
A decision leaves private deliberation and enters direct encounter. “See one another in the face” holds more than looking: each person comes into the other’s immediate presence, where the stakes of the words between them become visible.
THE ROOT
נִתְרָאֶה
nitra'eh
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra'ah
To see, look at, or appear.
“see one another” in this verse is nitra'eh. The verb is reciprocal: Amaziah proposes that the two men appear before one another. The phrase makes this a mutual encounter, not simply one person observing the other.
ALSO GROWS
ro'eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
The same root can name the one who sees, bringing the act of seeing into focus.
mar'eh: Appearance or vision.
מַרְאֶה
This branch links seeing with what becomes visible in an encounter.
וַיִּשְׁלַח
wayyishlach
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
To send forth or send away; the root also carries the sense of release.
“sent” in this verse is wayyishlach. Amaziah’s message moves outward from his counsel toward Joash. The same root can describe sending away or releasing, while here it marks the moment the decision becomes a summons.
ALSO GROWS
shilleaḥ: Sent away or released.
שִׁלֵּחַ
This form shows the root’s reach from sending outward to letting something go.
shilluaḥ: Sending away or dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
The noun preserves the same movement out from a point of origin that carries Amaziah’s message toward Joash.
THE PATTERN
Face-to-face encounter brings words into immediate presence, whether the meeting carries intimacy or confrontation.
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.THE THREAD
And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.The next verse repeats שׁלח (shalach): Joash sends his reply, then has a thistle send its proposal to a cedar. The repeated root carries the movement of Amaziah’s summons into Joash’s reply, where the thistle and cedar make the encounter’s imbalance visible.
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