What Does 2 Kings 12:7 Mean in the King James?
Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and said unto them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the house? now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance, but deliver it for the breaches of the house.
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 verse does not ask why the house is not honored; it asks why its breaches are not being strengthened, then directs the money straight to them.
THE MEANING
The damage is named plainly: the house has breaches, and the priests are not strengthening them. Its money is redirected toward those damaged places, making care visible in where the resources go. The verse speaks now wherever something called cared-for still has breaks left unattended.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Reverence for a house is not the same as maintaining it; an unrepaired breach remains.
THE ROOT
תְחַזְּקוּ
teḥazzeqū
GROWS FROM
חזק
Be strong, grow firm, strengthen, or hold fast.
The verb translated “repair” carries the sense of strengthening. The verse frames the work as making the house firm where it has broken open.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzāq: Strong, firm.
חָזָק
The related adjective makes clear that repair aims at firmness, not just appearance.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen, make firm.
חִזֵּק
This related verb gives the action behind the question: the breaches need strengthening.
בֶּדֶק
bedeq
GROWS FROM
בדק
Examine, inspect, or test.
“breaches” in this verse is bedeq. The noun בֶּדֶק names a breach or damaged place needing repair, while its Hebrew word family carries the sense of inspection. English gives the gap a static name; the Hebrew also draws attention to the need to examine what is damaged.
ALSO GROWS
bādaq: Examine, inspect.
בָּדַק
This verb in the same word family brings attention to looking closely at what has failed.
bedeq: A breach, or the repair of a breach.
בֶּדֶק
The noun names both the damaged place at issue and the work directed toward it.
תִּתְּנֵם
tittenēm
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, or place.
“deliver” in this verse is tittenēm. The verb is built on the root for giving or setting something in place. Its destination is explicit: the money is given for the breaches, so the transfer is tied to repair.
ALSO GROWS
nātan: Give, set, place.
נָתַן
This is the root verb beneath the instruction to direct the money to the damaged places.
mattānāh: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun shows another form of giving from the same root.
THE PATTERN
Repair becomes real when work and provision reach the places where a structure is broken.
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.THE THREAD
And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,The Hebrew word בֶּדֶק (bedeq), rendered “breaches,” appears here too, tying the damaged place to the work of repair. The verse directs the money to the workers so that the house’s breaches can be strengthened.
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