What Does 2 Chronicles 32:2 Mean in the King James?

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,

2 Chronicles 32:2 · 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 threat is defined by the direction of its face: it has arrived and is turned toward war against the place named for wholeness.

THE MEANING

You see the violence plainly: a hostile power has arrived and aims war at Jerusalem. The verse holds arrival and intent together, so the danger is already real before battle begins. Hezekiah’s name carries “YHWH strengthens,” placing strength in the scene without erasing the threat.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that danger is not real until violence begins breaks here: the arrival and the intention already make it real.

THE ROOT

וּפָנָיו לַמִּלְחָמָה

ûp̄ānāw lam-milḥāmāh

GROWS FROM

פנה

Turn, face, or direct oneself toward.

“purposed” in this verse is ûp̄ānāw lam-milḥāmāh. The Hebrew pictures intention as a face turned toward its aim. The threat is not only that Sennacherib has arrived; his direction is already set toward war.

ALSO GROWS

panim: Face; presence.

פָּנִים

The face makes an inward intention visible as an outward orientation.

mifneh: A turn or change of direction.

מִפְנֶה

The root keeps attention on where a person or force is turning.

יְרוּשָׁלַיִם

Yerushalayim

GROWS FROM

שלם

Be whole or complete.

“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim carries the sound of shalom, wholeness, in a doubled form. The face of war is directed toward a place whose name holds wholeness; the verse sets constriction against that wholeness.

ALSO GROWS

shalom: Wholeness.

שָׁלוֹם

It reveals what is at stake in the attack: the integrity of the place under threat.

shalem: Whole, complete.

שָׁלֵם

It echoes the wholeness carried in Jerusalem’s name.

חִזְקִיָּהוּ

Chizqiyyahu

GROWS FROM

חזק

Be strong, strengthen, or hold fast.

Hezekiah’s name carries “YHWH strengthens.” The verse places clear sight of danger beside strength already named, without claiming the danger is unreal.

ALSO GROWS

chazaq: Be strong or grow firm.

חָזַק

It carries strength as a state that can hold amid pressure.

chizzeq: Strengthen or make firm.

חִזֵּק

It shows the root as strengthening that steadies what is under strain.

THE PATTERN

Hostile intent becomes visible in what it aims at before its harm is complete.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Psalm 27:3 · KJVThe threat is named by its direction, an encamped host and war rising against the speaker.

And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

Esther 3:6 · KJVHaman’s aim becomes visible before the destruction he seeks is carried out.

And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

Mark 3:2 · KJVThe watchers’ intent is already directed toward accusation, though the event they are watching has not yet unfolded.

THE THREAD

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,

Luke 9:51 · KJV

Here the face turns against Jerusalem, so its direction names the violence. Luke turns the image around: Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, making the city the destination of a deliberate approach rather than the target of an attack.

This reading is from Selah Verse.

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