What Does 2 Chronicles 28:22 Mean in the King James?
And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
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 name אָחָז (ʾĀḥāz, “he has grasped”) stands beside a king who, under pressure, adds to his breach with the LORD.
THE MEANING
When pressure closes in, the response can be to tighten the grip and add to the breach with the LORD. This verse makes distress a revealing hour: it does not automatically produce a turn.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that suffering automatically turns a person toward God; here distress becomes the occasion for a deeper breach.
THE ROOT
לִמְעֹל
limʿōl
GROWS FROM
מעל
m-ʿ-l
To act unfaithfully, deal treacherously, or make a breach.
“Trespass” can sound like a single offense; this root carries the sense of unfaithful dealing and breach of trust with the LORD. The verse says Ahaz adds to that breach under pressure.
ALSO GROWS
māʿal: To act unfaithfully or deal treacherously.
מָעַל
It makes the trespass a breach of trust, not merely a boundary crossed.
meʿīlāh: Unfaithfulness, trespass, or sacrilege.
מְעִילָה
The noun names the breach itself, showing what Ahaz deepens.
הָצֵר
hāṣēr
GROWS FROM
צרר
ṣ-r-r
To bind, press in, or constrict.
“distress” in this verse is hāṣēr. The word carries the sense of being pressed into a narrow place, not merely feeling sad. It marks a constricted hour; what follows is further breach rather than release.
ALSO GROWS
ṣar: Narrow, tight, or distressing.
צַר
It gives the pressure in the verse the shape of constriction.
ṣārāh: Trouble or distress.
צָרָה
It shows distress as a condition of being pressed in, the setting in which Ahaz adds to his breach.
אָחָז
ʾĀḥāz
GROWS FROM
אחז
ʾ-ḥ-z
To grasp, seize, or hold fast.
“Ahaz” in this verse is ʾĀḥāz. The name אָחָז (ʾĀḥāz, “he has grasped”) carries the root’s sense of holding fast. Beside the language of distress and added breach, it gives the verse a picture of pressure met with a tightening grip.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāḥaz: To grasp, seize, or hold.
אָחַז
The verb gives the name its sense of grasping.
ʾaḥuzzāh: A holding, possession, or allotted property.
אֲחֻזָּה
This noun extends the same root into what is held or possessed.
THE PATTERN
Under pressure, resistance can deepen instead of opening into a turn.
Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.THE THREAD
If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:The word translated “trespass” here shares the root of Ahaz’s breach in 2 Chronicles. In both verses, the root points to unfaithful dealing with what belongs to the LORD, giving the phrase “against the LORD” the weight of a broken trust.
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