What Does 2 Chronicles 25:20 Mean in the King James?
But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.
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
Here, hearing is a response: Amaziah refuses it while the people pursue other gods, and God gives them into enemy hands.
THE MEANING
Refusing a warning is not a neutral pause: attention is withheld from one voice while pursuit is given to another. The verse holds a hard claim in view, God gives them into their enemies’ hands, and their pursuit of Edom’s gods is named as the reason. The exposure that follows is left plain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that refusing to hear leaves a person untouched is undone here: what is pursued and what is rejected are bound to an outcome.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shāmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen to, or heed what is heard.
Amaziah’s failure is not lack of access to information but refusal to receive and respond. The same root appears in Israel’s “Hear” (שְׁמַע, shema, hear and respond), so hearing here carries the weight of answerable attention.
ALSO GROWS
shomea: One who hears or listens
שֹׁמֵעַ
The verse turns on whether Amaziah will be a hearer who receives the warning.
shema: Hear; listen and respond
שְׁמַע
This familiar command form shows that hearing in Hebrew can include the response the verse says Amaziah withholds.
דָּרְשׁוּ
darshu
GROWS FROM
דרש
Seek, inquire, or pursue.
“sought after” in this verse is darshu. The verb describes active pursuit, not accidental contact. The verse sets this search beside refused hearing: one voice is shut out while the gods of Edom receive the people’s seeking.
ALSO GROWS
darash: To seek or inquire
דָּרַשׁ
This verb names the active searching carried by “sought after.”
midrash: Inquiry or exposition
מִדְרָשׁ
This related word preserves the sense of an engaged search, showing that darash is more than passive awareness.
תִּתָּם
tittām
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, or place.
“deliver” in this verse is tittām. The Hebrew form comes from נתן, “give” or “place”: the clause pictures them being given into their enemies’ hands. That concrete wording keeps the verse’s direct attribution to God in view.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give or place
נָתַן
This is the verb’s root sense and makes the handover in the verse concrete.
mattanah: A gift or thing given
מַתָּנָה
This related form carries the same root of giving, clarifying the action behind the English “deliver.”
THE PATTERN
Hearing in Scripture is a responsive orientation that shapes the path a person follows.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:THE THREAD
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:The same Hebrew root, שמע (shamaʿ, hear, listen, heed), appears in both Deuteronomy’s “Hear” and Amaziah’s “would not hear.” The connection makes the refusal more than missing information: the word he shuts out calls for a response.
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