What Does 2 Chronicles 4:15 Mean in the King James?
One sea, and twelve oxen under it.
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 sea is one, but its support is twelve: unity here is carried by plurality.
THE MEANING
One vast vessel rests above twelve distinct supports. The image speaks now of a shared whole borne by many strengths: oneness does not make the many disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that what is whole must stand alone; its one sea is visibly borne by twelve supports.
THE ROOT
אֶחָד
echad
GROWS FROM
א־ח־ד
One; a unified whole.
The root carries both singularity and unity. Here, that oneness is not isolation: the one sea is held by twelve supports.
ALSO GROWS
echad: One; the masculine form used for the sea here.
אֶחָד
It names the vessel as a single whole above the many supports.
achdut: Unity; oneness.
אַחְדוּת
This related word makes the root’s sense of joined wholeness explicit, while the verse shows that wholeness resting on many.
THE PATTERN
A shared whole is sustained and expressed through many distinct parts.
It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.THE THREAD
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:The same Hebrew word, אֶחָד (echad), names the one sea here and the one LORD there. In this verse, oneness is tangible: twelve supports carry the single vessel.
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