What Does 2 Chronicles 33:23 Mean in the King James?
And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.
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
Refusing to humble himself lets Amon’s guilt multiply instead of keeping it contained.
THE MEANING
The passage places two movements before the reader now: humbling oneself before the LORD, or letting guilt multiply. Amon’s refusal shows that wrongdoing left unacknowledged does not stay contained; it grows. Manasseh’s contrasting turn shows that this pattern can change.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that guilt will fade if left unacknowledged; here, it multiplies.
THE ROOT
נִכְנַע
nikhnaʿ
GROWS FROM
כנע
To be subdued, brought low, or humbled.
“humbled himself” in this verse is nikhnaʿ. The root frames humbling as a change in posture under authority, not merely a feeling of shame. Amon refuses that posture, while Manasseh takes it.
ALSO GROWS
nikhnaʿ: Was humbled or submitted; the form used here.
נִכְנַע
The verse says Amon did not enter this posture before the LORD.
hikhniʿa: Subdued or brought under submission.
הִכְנִיעַ
The causative form shows the same root can describe bringing something under authority, giving “humble” a sense of yielding rather than self-contempt.
הִרְבָּה
hirbâ
GROWS FROM
רבה
To become many, increase, or multiply.
“more and more” in this verse is hirbâ. The Hebrew verb makes guilt something that grows in quantity. Its multiplication is joined directly to Amon’s refusal to humble himself.
ALSO GROWS
hirbâ: Increased or multiplied.
הִרְבָּה
This is the verb describing what Amon does with guilt.
leharbôt: To increase or multiply.
לְהַרְבּוֹת
The infinitive form keeps the image of accumulation visible beneath the English phrase “more and more.”
אַשְׁמָה
ʾashmâ
GROWS FROM
אשם
To incur guilt or be culpable.
“trespassed” in this verse is ʾashmâ. The Hebrew phrase says Amon multiplied guilt, joining the act with the condition of culpability. The word-family also includes the guilt offering, so it holds liability and its reckoning within the same root.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāshēm: Guilty or liable.
אָשֵׁם
This names the state of culpability beneath the English “trespassed.”
ʾāshām: Guilt; also a guilt offering.
אָשָׁם
The same root can name both the liability and the offering associated with it, though this verse speaks of guilt accumulating.
THE PATTERN
Refusing humility lets guilt multiply, while bringing wrong into the open makes return possible.
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.THE THREAD
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,The same Hebrew root כנע (kanaʿ, be humbled or subdued) marks Manasseh’s action in verse 12 and Amon’s refusal in verse 23. The contrast shows how one posture opens a turn, while the other lets guilt keep multiplying.
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