What Does 2 Chronicles 28:4 Mean in the King James?
He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
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 verse makes devotion spatial: sacrifice and incense spread across heights, hills, and the space beneath every green tree.
THE MEANING
This verse shows devotion taking concrete forms and occupying concrete places: sacrifice and incense at the heights, on the hills, beneath every green tree. The repeated sweep of “every” makes the practice pervasive across the landscape.
THE ROOT
וַיְזַבֵּחַ
wayezabbēaḥ
GROWS FROM
זבח
z-b-ḥ
To slaughter; by extension, to sacrifice.
“sacrificed” in this verse is wayezabbēaḥ. The verb’s root also appears in the word for an offering and in the word for an altar. English can make “sacrifice” sound like a self-contained ritual, while Hebrew links the act, what is offered, and the place of offering through one root.
ALSO GROWS
zevaḥ: Sacrifice; offering.
זֶבַח
The noun names what the verb describes: the act and its offering share the same seed.
mizbēaḥ: Altar; place of sacrifice.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar’s name comes from the same root, linking the act of sacrifice to the place that receives it.
וַיְקַטֵּר
wayqaṭṭēr
GROWS FROM
קטר
q-ṭ-r
To burn incense or make smoke rise as an offering.
“burnt incense” in this verse is wayqaṭṭēr. The Hebrew keeps the burning of incense inside a word family for incense and the one who offers it. The act is tangible: incense is burned, and smoke rises from it.
ALSO GROWS
qetōret: Incense.
קְטֹרֶת
This noun names what is burned in the act described by the verse.
maqtīr: One who offers incense.
מַקְטִיר
This form names the person performing the same act, keeping the offering and its offerer within one root family.
THE PATTERN
Devotion takes visible form through what is offered and where or how it is offered.
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD.“Sacrifices” here comes from the same זבח (z-b-ḥ, zabach) root as “sacrificed” in this verse. Leviticus names both the offering’s destination and its place, making the locations in 2 Chronicles part of what the verse reveals about the act.
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