What Does 2 Chronicles 6:23 Mean in the King James?
Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.
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
Judgment here is a return: the wrongdoer meets his own way again, while the righteous person is vindicated according to their alignment.
THE MEANING
God hears from heaven and responds in action. The wrongdoer’s own way comes back upon his head, while the righteous person is vindicated and receives according to their alignment. The verse places your path inside the judgment you meet: what is yours is answered in keeping with the way you walk.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that a harmful path can remain detached from the person who walks it: the verse shows that path returning to its source.
THE ROOT
לְהָשִׁיב
lehashiv
GROWS FROM
שׁוב
Turn, return; in this causative form, cause to return.
“by requiting” in this verse is lehashiv. The Hebrew carries the image of a return: the wicked person’s own way is brought back upon his own head. The judgment described here makes the path come full circle to the one who walked it.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn; return.
שׁוּב
This is the root action behind the verse’s image of a person’s way coming back to them.
teshuvah: Return; turning.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun carries the same movement of return, echoing the verse’s picture of a path brought back to its source.
וּלְהַצְדִּיק
ulhatsdiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
Be just or in the right; establish as aligned.
“justifying” in this verse is ulhatsdiq. The prayer uses one root across “justify the righteous” and “his righteousness”: the verdict and the person’s alignment belong to the same word-family. Vindication recognizes that alignment, and the outcome reflects it.
ALSO GROWS
tsaddiq: A righteous person; one who is in the right.
צַדִּיק
This is the person the verse says is justified.
tsedeq: Justice; rightness or alignment.
צֶדֶק
This shares the root behind the righteousness according to which the person receives.
תִּשְׁמַע
tishma
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed, and respond where the context carries response.
The verse does not leave hearing as reception: “hear” is immediately joined to “do” and “judge.” Here, being heard opens into an answering act.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
It shows the responsive force that can live inside hearing, matching the verse’s movement from hearing to action.
shomea: One who hears or listens.
שׁוֹמֵעַ
This form shares the root and keeps attention on hearing as an active relation, not merely sound received.
THE PATTERN
Judgment returns a person’s own way to them, measuring the outcome against what they have set in motion.
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.Psalm 7:16 uses the same שׁוב (shuv, return) root in “shall return.” It makes the image unmistakable: the harm comes back upon the head of the one who set it in motion.
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