What Does 2 Chronicles 7:21 Mean in the King James?

And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house?

2 Chronicles 7:21 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The house’s height does not keep it from becoming the very desolation that makes passersby ask why.

THE MEANING

Even a house that stands high can be brought low; its desolation can be so visible that someone passing by asks why the LORD has done this to the land and the house. The ruin is exposed, and the shock belongs to the person who sees it. The verse holds the devastation and the question together.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that what is exalted is therefore secure: height does not guarantee a dwelling’s safety.

THE ROOT

לְשַׁמָּה

leshammah

GROWS FROM

שמם

sh-m-m

To become desolate or appalled; to be left in a state of ruin that provokes shock.

The word translated “astonishment” carries the sense of desolation that leaves observers appalled. The same root names both the ruined condition and the shock of seeing it: the house itself becomes the evidence that provokes the question.

ALSO GROWS

shamem: To be desolate or appalled.

שָׁמֵם

This verb holds together the house’s ruin and the passerby’s shock at seeing it.

shemamah: Desolation, waste.

שְׁמָמָה

This noun makes clear that the astonishment is rooted in the visible state of the place: it has become waste.

THE PATTERN

The public ruin of a once-significant place makes its fall a question or lament for those who witness it.

And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house?

1 Kings 9:8 · KJVThe house’s height and the passersby’s astonishment echo the same warning: its visible fall prompts the question of what the LORD has done.

Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?

Deuteronomy 29:24 · KJVThe ruined land becomes a public question, and the verse names the LORD’s anger as what the witnesses seek to understand.

And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

Revelation 18:19 · KJVA great city’s sudden desolation becomes a public lament, exposing how quickly apparent greatness can fall.

THE THREAD

And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.

Jeremiah 19:8 · KJV

Jeremiah uses the same ⁨שׁמם⁩ word family for the city’s desolation and the onlooker’s astonishment. The shared root shows the ruin itself becoming what leaves the passerby appalled.

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