What Does 2 Chronicles 30:23 Mean in the King James?

And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness.

2 Chronicles 30:23 · KJV

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 assembly does not merely receive a festival; it chooses together to extend it, and gladness fills the added time.

THE MEANING

A gathered people can choose together to continue a celebration, and the added days are marked by gladness. Joy is held in common here: the assembly shapes the time and shares its spirit.

THE ROOT

שִׂמְחָה

simchah

GROWS FROM

שמח

To rejoice or be glad; in a causative form, to make glad.

The word for gladness belongs to the same root as the verb “to rejoice” and the verb “to gladden.” The verse holds joy as both a shared experience and something the assembly actively extends across more days.

ALSO GROWS

samach: To rejoice, be glad.

שָׂמַח

This verb shows gladness as an act of rejoicing, the quality that marks the added days.

simmeach: To gladden, make joyful.

שִׂמֵּחַ

This causative branch reveals the root’s connection between experiencing joy and bringing joy into being.

וַיִּוָּעֲצוּ

vayyivva'atsu

GROWS FROM

יעץ

To advise, deliberate, or resolve.

“took counsel” in this verse is vayyivva'atsu. The extension begins with deliberation by the assembly. The same root names both counsel and a counselor, showing the added days emerging from the gathered people’s shared judgment.

ALSO GROWS

etsah: Counsel, advice.

עֵצָה

This noun names the deliberation behind the assembly’s choice to continue the feast.

yo'ets: Counselor, adviser.

יוֹעֵץ

This branch names one who gives counsel, echoing the assembly’s role in shaping what happens next.

THE PATTERN

Shared joy can outlast a single appointed moment when a community continues it together.

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24 · KJVThe day becomes a shared occasion for rejoicing, much as the assembly makes room for more days of gladness.

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10 · KJVJoy is expressed through shared food and provision, showing gladness taking shape among a people.

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

Acts 2:46 · KJVThe community’s shared gladness continues from day to day through gathering and eating together.

THE THREAD

Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

Deuteronomy 16:15 · KJV

Deuteronomy uses ⁨שָׂמַח⁩ (samach, to rejoice), while Chronicles uses ⁨שִׂמְחָה⁩ (simchah, gladness); both grow from the root ⁨שמח⁩ (ś-m-ḥ, rejoice or be glad). That shared root links the extended days to a wider pattern in which festival time is lived as rejoicing.

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