What Does 2 Chronicles 30:10 Mean in the King James?
So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
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 invitation crosses the land on human feet, while ridicule tries to stop it by turning its messengers into a joke.
THE MEANING
A call toward return moves through ordinary people and reaches you across familiar boundaries; some hear it and answer with contempt. Their laughter makes the messengers small in public, but the verse does not let that response erase the call.
THE ROOT
הָרָצִים
hārāṣîm the runners
GROWS FROM
רוץ
Run, move swiftly.
The word is literally “runners”: the call reaches across the land through people moving from city to city. “Posts” can sound like an institution, while the Hebrew keeps the human motion in view.
ALSO GROWS
rāṣ: A runner; one who runs.
רָץ
The messengers are named by their movement, showing how the invitation travels.
lāruṣ: To run.
לָרוּץ
This verb makes the verse’s repeated journey from city to city physically vivid.
מַשְׂחִיקִים
maśḥîqîm laughing
GROWS FROM
שׂחק
Laugh, play; the context can give the laughter a derisive edge.
“laughed” in this verse is maśḥîqîm laughing. The verse uses this root for laughter, then pairs it with a separate word for mockery, making the contempt unmistakable. The same root can describe laughter as joy, so here the scorn comes from the posture of the laugh, not from laughter itself.
ALSO GROWS
śeḥōq: Laughter.
שְׂחוֹק
This noun shows the root’s broader range beyond the contemptuous laughter in this verse.
yiśḥāq: He laughs.
יִשְׂחָק
Psalm 2:4 uses this form of the same root for the LORD’s laughter at rulers who defy him.
THE PATTERN
A message that unsettles what people assume can draw ridicule before it draws a hearing.
But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.THE THREAD
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.The word translated “shall laugh” comes from שׂחק, the same root as “laughed” here. In Chronicles the people use laughter to belittle the messengers; Psalm 2 turns the same word toward rulers who imagine their defiance is ultimate.
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