What Does 2 Chronicles 6:28 Mean in the King James?
If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:
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
Famine, disease, crop devastation, and siege are different forms of the same narrowing pressure.
THE MEANING
The verse names the ways life can be pressed at once: the land fails, sickness strikes, and enemies close around the city. Its final “whatsoever sore” and “whatsoever sickness” leave room for the particular affliction present in your life now.
THE ROOT
יָצַר
yatsar
GROWS FROM
צרר
צרר (tsarar) means to bind, press, or constrict.
The word opens “besiege” into the feeling of being pressed into narrowness. That same tzar (צַר, narrowness) echoes in Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם), the name associated with constriction: here the pressure closes around the city.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: narrow, tight
צַר
It shows the constriction carried inside the idea of siege.
tsarah: distress, trouble
צָרָה
It names the distress that comes when life is pressed in.
אַרְבֶּה
arbeh
GROWS FROM
רבה
רבה (rabah) means to increase or multiply.
“locusts” in this verse is arbeh. The locust’s name carries the shape of increase: the threat is a multitude, not a single creature. English names the insect; the Hebrew also lets its multiplying force show through.
ALSO GROWS
rav: many, numerous
רָב
It shares the sense of abundance that gives a swarm its force.
hirbah: to increase, multiply
הִרְבָּה
It makes explicit the multiplying action echoed in the locust’s name.
נֶגַע
negaʿ
GROWS FROM
נגע
נגע (nagaʿ) means to touch, reach, or strike.
“Sore” can sound like one local symptom, while negaʿ can name an affliction or blow, something that has reached and affected the body. Beside “whatsoever sickness,” it makes room for both the impact and the condition it leaves.
ALSO GROWS
nagaʿ: to touch, reach, strike
נָגַע
It reveals the bodily contact held beneath the word for affliction.
maggaʿ: contact, touch
מַגָּע
It carries the same root’s sense of something making contact.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names calamity across the land, the body, and public safety as distinct forms of human distress.
The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?THE THREAD
And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.The Hebrew word for “besiege” here shares the צרר (tsarar) root with the pressure named in 2 Chronicles 6:28. The repeated root makes siege more than a military image: it is the experience of being bound and pressed into narrowness.
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