What Does 2 Chronicles 34:21 Mean in the King James?
Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.
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
Recovering the book does not erase the breach: the revealed word shows whether it has been guarded.
THE MEANING
The found words disclose a rupture: the community carries the consequence of not keeping what was entrusted, and the LORD’s wrath is poured out upon us. The appeal to inquire brings that inherited failure before the LORD.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that neglect by those before us has no consequences for the living now.
THE ROOT
שָׁמְרוּ
shamru
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ר
sh-m-r
Guard, watch over, keep.
The root of “kept” carries the sense of guarding and watching, alongside keeping. Its branches include a watchman and a charge kept in custody, giving the verse’s failure the added shade of a word left unguarded in practice.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: One who keeps watch or guards.
שֹׁמֵר
The watchman’s vigilance shows the attentiveness contained in keeping the LORD’s word.
mishmeret: A custody, charge, or assigned duty to keep.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch links keeping to being entrusted with something and remaining responsible for it.
דִּרְשׁוּ
dirshu
GROWS FROM
ד־ר־שׁ
d-r-sh
Seek, inquire, search out.
“enquire” in this verse is dirshu. The request is to seek the LORD concerning the words that have been found. This root’s family includes inquiry and exposition, linking the act of seeking with working to understand what the uncovered words say.
ALSO GROWS
midrash: Inquiry, study, or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
It connects seeking with examining and interpreting what has been found.
darshan: One who expounds or interprets.
דַּרְשָׁן
This branch shows the path from inquiry toward understanding the book’s words.
THE PATTERN
Instruction becomes a living possession through keeping, and its absence is exposed when the written word is recovered.
Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.THE THREAD
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.The Hebrew behind “taking heed” is לִשְׁמֹר (lishmor, to keep or guard), from the same ש־מ־ר (sh-m-r) root as “kept” here. This links guarding the word with the way a person walks according to it.
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