What Does 2 Chronicles 33:14 Mean in the King James?
Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.
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 root beneath “fenced” means “to cut off, make inaccessible,” locating protection in control of the territory’s points of entry.
THE MEANING
What you are restoring extends beyond its center: exposed approaches are enclosed, the perimeter is raised, and defenders are stationed across the wider territory. Safety takes concrete shape in boundaries, entrances, height, and distributed watchfulness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that protecting the center is sufficient leaves every exposed approach and outlying settlement vulnerable.
THE ROOT
בְּצֻרוֹת
bəṣurōt
GROWS FROM
בצר
b-ṣ-r
To cut off or make inaccessible; hence, to fortify.
Beneath “fenced” is the sense of making a place inaccessible. The word links each fortified city to a boundary that limits entry, while the captains distribute defense across the territory.
ALSO GROWS
bāṣar: To fortify or make inaccessible
בָּצַר
This verb shows the action behind the fortified cities: protection is created by restricting access.
mivtsar: Fortress, stronghold
מִבְצָר
The fortress is a place made difficult to reach, extending the same boundary idea from an action to a protected structure.
בָּנָה
bānāh
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build or construct.
“built” in this verse is bānāh. This root names the act of building and, through its branches, the resulting structure. Here the wall is deliberate work made durable, part of a wider system of boundaries and stationed defenders.
ALSO GROWS
mivneh: Structure, form
מִבְנֶה
The wall is a built form that makes protection tangible along the city’s exposed edge.
binyan: Building, construction
בִּנְיָן
This branch emphasizes the work of assembling a structure, reflected in the wall’s extension and height.
THE PATTERN
Protection becomes durable when it is built into a structure able to guard exposed places and withstand pressure.
Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.The Hebrew בָּנָה (banah, “build”) in this wall’s construction is the same root used for the house in the psalm. The psalm then joins building with keeping a city, revealing the purpose behind its walls and watchmen.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us