What Does 2 Chronicles 7:19 Mean in the King James?
But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
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 turn away is already a turn toward: what replaces the instruction receives both your work and your bow.
THE MEANING
When you turn from what is set before you, your allegiance does not remain empty: your service and bowing begin to orient around something else. The verse names the shift as both forsaking and devotion, because a change in direction becomes a change in what receives your labor and posture.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
I can turn away without my allegiance going anywhere else.
THE ROOT
תְּשׁוּבוּן
teshuvun
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
turn, return
“turn away” in this verse is teshuvun. The Hebrew verb names turning; the surrounding words give the turn its direction. This same root can describe turning away or returning, so the decisive question is what the turn faces.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: return, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
It names a return as movement from the same root, showing that turning itself can lead in either direction.
meshubah: backsliding, turning away
מְשׁוּבָה
It shows the same root can name a turn that moves away from what was set before you.
וַעֲבַדְתֶּם
va'avadtem
GROWS FROM
עָבַד
avad
serve, work, labor
“serve” in this verse is va'avadtem. The root joins service with work: serving another god means giving your activity to it, not merely holding an opinion. The same seed names both the servant and the work of service.
ALSO GROWS
eved: servant
עֶבֶד
The servant is the person whose life is given in service.
avodah: work, service
עֲבֹדָה
This word names the labor that makes service visible in what you do.
וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶם
vehishtachavitem
GROWS FROM
שׁחה
shachah
bow down, prostrate oneself
The act rendered “worship” is expressed as bodily bowing or prostration. Paired with serving, the verse describes allegiance through both the work you give and the posture you take.
ALSO GROWS
mishtachaveh: one who bows down
מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה
The word makes the bowing posture itself visible in the one who performs it.
hishtachavayah: bowing, prostration
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָיָה
This names the act of bowing that the verse joins to service.
THE PATTERN
A turn of allegiance becomes visible in the work one gives and the one before whom one bows.
But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.THE THREAD
For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.This verse uses the same root, שׁוּב (shuv, turn or return), for turning back toward the LORD. The root itself does not mean departure; what the turn faces determines whether it is turning away or returning.
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