What Does 2 Chronicles 34:7 Mean in the King James?
And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
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 dismantling culminates in a return: what is cleared away makes room for a new direction.
THE MEANING
The verse holds removal and return together: altars and images are broken down, crushed to powder, and cut away, then the movement turns toward Jerusalem. Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim) carries shalom (שָׁלוֹם, wholeness), so the ending points toward wholeness rather than destruction for its own sake. The root of “returned,” shuv, makes that final direction central.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that removing false centers leaves only emptiness: the movement ends in a return toward wholeness.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשָׁב
vayyashav
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
Turn, turn back, return.
“returned” in this verse is vayyashav. The final verb comes from שׁוּב (shuv, to turn or return): after the idols are broken down, the movement turns toward Jerusalem. Within this same root, מְשׁוּבָה (meshubah, backsliding) names a turning away, so the direction of the turn is the hinge.
ALSO GROWS
yashuv: He will return.
יָשׁוּב
Isaiah 55:7 uses this form for returning to the LORD, opening the verse’s return toward Jerusalem into a return toward God.
meshubah: Backsliding, turning away.
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch shows that turning can move away from wholeness; the destination matters as much as the change of direction.
THE PATTERN
Turning from false centers finds its direction in a return toward God.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;THE THREAD
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.The word translated “return” shares the root שׁוּב (shuv) with the final verb in this verse. Isaiah makes the destination explicit: the turn after release is toward the LORD, where what is let go gives way to return.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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