What Does 2 Chronicles 7:18 Mean in the King James?
Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.
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 same Hebrew root names both cutting a covenant and being cut off, so the promise answers severance in the very language of severance.
THE MEANING
Even now, this verse presents continuity as something God establishes and a covenant holds across generations. Its promise against being cut off is framed by the act of covenant-making, so the threat and its answer share one root. Stability here is received within a promise, not secured by the ruler alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what lasts must be sustained by a ruler’s own power: here the throne is established by God and held within a covenant.
THE ROOT
כָּרַתִּי
karatti
GROWS FROM
כרת
karat
to cut or sever
The Hebrew uses כרת for both “covenanted” and “fail”: God cuts a covenant, and a ruler will not be cut off. The promise holds continuity against severance in the same word-family.
ALSO GROWS
karat: cut; with “covenant,” make a covenant
כָּרַת
This is the verb behind “I have covenanted.”
yikkaret: be cut off
יִכָּרֵת
This is the verb behind “There shall not fail thee a man,” making the promise’s image of continuity explicit.
וַהֲקִימוֹתִי
va-haqimoti
GROWS FROM
קום
qum
to rise or stand
“stablish” in this verse is va-haqimoti. The throne is not portrayed as standing by its own strength; God raises it into standing. “Establish” carries the image of bringing something upright and keeping it there.
ALSO GROWS
qum: rise; stand
קוּם
This is the root’s basic motion, the standing that the verse promises for the throne.
heqim: raise; set up; establish
הֵקִים
This causative form expresses God bringing the throne to stand.
דָּוִד
David
GROWS FROM
דוד
dod
beloved
David’s name carries the sense of “beloved,” so the covenant is spoken through a father whose name holds a relational meaning. The promise’s continuity is tied to a named relationship, not an anonymous line.
ALSO GROWS
dod: beloved; also a close male relative in some contexts
דּוֹד
This word-family carries the sense associated with David’s name.
dodi: my beloved
דּוֹדִי
This form makes the relational sense of the name-family audible.
THE PATTERN
A covenant promise holds continuity across generations against the threat of being cut off.
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:In Hebrew, “made a covenant” uses כרת (karat), “cut,” the same root behind “covenanted” here and “cut off” in the promise that a ruler will not fail. The shared root makes the covenant’s promise of continuity sound directly against severance.
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