What Does 2 Chronicles 9:22 Mean in the King James?
And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
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
What the KJV calls surpassing is literally growth into greatness, with riches and wisdom marking two distinct dimensions of that growth.
THE MEANING
You see greatness measured in more than rank: a life can expand in practiced wisdom and material abundance at once. The verse holds them together as distinct forms of increase, without reducing one to the other. Together, they open a wider picture of abundance than either measure carries alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that wisdom and material abundance must be opposites: here they appear together without either being reduced to the other.
THE ROOT
וַיִּגְדַּל
wayyigdal
GROWS FROM
גדל
Grow, become great, increase in stature.
“passed” in this verse is wayyigdal. The Hebrew verb comes from גדל (g-d-l, grow or become great), so the comparison is phrased as Solomon growing into greatness across the kings. The verse makes that growth visible in wisdom and riches, not only in a title.
ALSO GROWS
gādōl: Great, large, significant.
גָּדוֹל
This adjective names the enlarged state implied by the verb in the verse.
migdāl: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises from the same root, giving an image of growth made visible.
חָכְמָה
ḥokhmāh
GROWS FROM
חכם
Be wise or skillful; act with understanding.
חָכְמָה (ḥokhmāh, wisdom) is kin to the language of practiced skill, not only detached thought. The verse presents wisdom as capable judgment, a form of abundance that stands beside material resources.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: A wise or skillful person.
חָכָם
This branch joins wisdom to practiced ability.
ḥokhmat-lev: Skill or understanding of heart.
חָכְמַת־לֵב
This expression uses the same wisdom root for know-how that can take shape in action.
עֹשֶׁר
ʿōsher
GROWS FROM
עשר
Be rich or increase in wealth.
עֹשֶׁר (ʿōsher, riches) belongs to a root of becoming wealthy. Beside חָכְמָה (ḥokhmāh, wisdom), it places outward resources and practiced understanding within the same picture of increase.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāšîr: Rich or wealthy.
עָשִׁיר
The adjective describes a person in the state of having wealth.
ʿāshar: Become wealthy.
עָשַׁר
The verb shows riches as an increase or change of state, not only a possession.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents wisdom as an abundance with tangible reach, joined to resources or expressed as growth.
Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.THE THREAD
Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.This verse repeats חָכְמָה (ḥokhmāh, wisdom) and עֹשֶׁר (ʿōsher, riches), the same Hebrew roots behind the wisdom and riches here. Their pairing is explicit: wisdom is granted, and riches come with it.
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