What Does 2 Kings 1:17 Mean in the King James?
So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.
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
Hebrew uses the same root for the LORD’s “word” and Elijah’s “speaking,” tying the utterance to the death that follows and the throne that changes hands.
THE MEANING
A word can carry a consequence heavy enough to end a life; this verse does not soften that violence. Power passes to another ruler, while the absence of a son leaves the dead king’s own line without a son to continue it. What is spoken and what follows remain tightly joined here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse unsettles the belief that holding power guarantees continuity: the throne passes on, but this king has no son to carry his line.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
dāḇār
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; as a noun, an utterance or matter.
English separates the noun “word” from the act of “speaking,” while Hebrew repeats the same root beneath both. The verse says the death comes according to the LORD’s word, the word Elijah spoke, so the utterance is not detached from its consequence here.
ALSO GROWS
dibbēr: Spoke, declared.
דִּבֵּר
This is the speaking verb in the verse, from the same root as “word”; Hebrew joins Elijah’s act of speaking to the word of the LORD.
dāḇār: Word, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
The noun can name both an utterance and a matter; here the word spoken is bound to the event that follows.
וַיִּמְלֹךְ
vayimlokh
GROWS FROM
מלך
To rule or reign; to hold kingship.
English gives “reigned” and “king” different word forms, but Hebrew draws them from the same root. The verse presents rule as something one person can take up after another’s reign ends.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
The verse calls Jehoshaphat king of Judah; the same root names both the royal office and the act of ruling.
malkhut: Kingship, kingdom.
מַלְכוּת
This branch names the rule or realm that continues when a new Jehoram takes the throne.
בֵּן
ben
GROWS FROM
בנה
To build, establish.
The word for son, בֵּן (ben, son), is commonly associated with בָּנָה (banah, build), bringing an echo of household continuation into “he had no son.” The throne passes to another ruler, but the verse marks the break in this king’s own line.
ALSO GROWS
banah: To build, establish.
בָּנָה
Its association with “son” gives the absence a household-continuity echo.
binyan: Building, structure.
בִּנְיָן
This related word for a structure reinforces the image of what can be built onward, and what has no son to carry forward here.
THE PATTERN
The spoken word does not fall away; it reaches its consequence in its season.
And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.THE THREAD
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.Elijah’s “my word” is דָּבָר (dāḇār, word), from the same root as דִּבֵּר (dibbēr, spoke) in the current verse. Here Elijah names what follows according to his word; in 2 Kings, the death comes according to the LORD’s word that Elijah spoke.
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